Someone Like You
by littlefoot1791
Summary: An AU fic about how the Glee kids are doing after high school. Mainly Rachel, Quinn, Mercedes, Kurt, and Blaine. Eventual Faberry. A few made up characters.  A/N: I do not own Glee. If I did it would be way different anyway haha
1. Chapter 1

An AU fic about how "Quinn stumbles upon Rachel while walking back to the apartment that she shares with Kurt, Blaine and Mercedes. Rachel sees a whole new side to Quinn and is intrigued as to what sparked her new self. Their friendship blossoms and Rachel learns about a bunny rabbit that she has dubbed "Demon", Quinn's many suitors, and a possible ex-girlfriend who could be an obstacle in their new-found friendship/maybe (hopefully) more." –Yelitza

**A/N: I do not own Glee. If I did it would be way different anyway haha Also this is my first fic, so I hope you enjoy! Comments and criticisms would be welcomed :] Also special thanks to my beta, Olivia (With Good Grace). I'm going to put a shameless plug in here and tell you all to check her really awesome fics out :] Thanks for reading! Also this chapter has sexual assault in it so you have been warned.**

Quinn tightens her ponytail. The rain soaks her, chilling her to the core. If she had known that it was going to rain today she would have grabbed an umbrella before she left for her class at 8am. Now it's 10pm, a little under 40 degrees, and raining.

Stupid cheerleading. She shouldn't have taken the cheerleading scholarship. The honors scholarship alone has been sufficient payment for the school. When she had made the financial decision, she was terrified of not being able to go to college without her parents' support. Now she couldn't be happier, although busier than ever. But if her sleep is the price she has to pay for her education and freedom in New York, so be it. At least she had changed out of her uniform before she left the safety of the dry gym.

Turning onto the next street, Quinn quickens her pace. Opting to take an apartment rather than housing in the dorms had been Mercedes' idea. Mercedes, Kurt (Blaine by extension) and Quinn had decided that splitting the rent for a 3 bedroom apartment would be the best decision financially as well. Quinn needs to save as much as she can for her future. Living on the high end of life as a child had caused spoiled her. Once she was kicked out, she discovered how it was to live without money. The only problem now is the crappy streets she has to take as shortcuts to get to the safety of the building, her home.

She finally makes it back without incident. As she is about to turn the key to the building, Quinn hears a noise in the distance.

"I'll have you know someone is expecting me to be somewhere in the next half an hour, and if I am not there he will call the cops and you will be persecuted for your crimes of…"

"Shut up!"

Quinn hears an audible smack from where she is standing. Before she could think, she starts running across the street to where she hears that familiar voice.

"Just stay still; it won't take long," a sadistic voice with a creepy aftertaste orders**.**

"GET OFF OF ME!" a terrified yet determined voice yelled. "I HAVE A RAPE WHISTLE!"

"Then why don't you use it, sweet cheeks?"

Quinn can practically hear the smile in his voice. It's sickening. Quinn rounds the corner only to meet the eyes of one Rachel Barbra Berry. The instant recognition hits her like a freight train. Her chocolate eyes, which had once held warmth, now hold a chaotic range of emotions that she can't quite pick out. A mixture of expression, anger and fear slide through her facial features. Her wrists are held above her head, and she's pressed against the grimy wall of the alleyway. The oppressor does not notice their audience. He has long greasy hair and gangly body. The oversized black hoodie and cargo pants make him look like a skeleton.

_Only Rachel Berry would get pinned down by someone that looks so freakishly weak._

_Only Rachel Berry would try and talk her way out of a situation rather than fight._

_Only Rachel Berry would wear white in a storm like this._

_What the hell is she walking around here for anyway? Julliard is pretty far away on foot. Is she turning into a crack whore? Is she looking for a quick fix? Oh my lord, is Rachel Berry a junkie?_

The skeleton man gathers Rachel's wrists into one hand to free up his other to pull his zipper down. He moans sickeningly, "Now stay still."

Quinn decides that, junkie or not, Rachel is in trouble. She needs to snap out of this shock and stop standing there or Rachel will be in worse shape than she is now. She grabs her book bag, runs up to the back of the man, and swings the bag at the man's head with enough momentum to topple him over.

Rachel instantly falls to the ground in shock as Quinn turns her aggression on her.

"RACHEL BERRY, ARE YOU A CRACK WHORE?"

She is never quite the one to mince words when fear and anger boil inside her. She means to ask something more appropriate to the situation at hand, but the blonde sometimes can't help what pops out of her mouth. What else is she supposed to think, anyway? If Rachel had gotten herself into this mess for a quick fix, then she would just have to punch the addiction out of her. Quinn's hands flex with anger. She's not sure if she's angry at the skeleton that was groaning on the ground or at Rachel for being so impulsive when her dream was on the line.

Rachel looks up at Quinn.

"Quinn? I feel as if this isn't the best point in time to discuss this, seeing as the man who was trying to physically assault me is starting to stir in the corner. And for Barbra's sake, what do you have in that bag, bricks?"

Quinn takes Rachel's hand, lifts her to her feet, swinging an arm protectively around the waist of the obnoxious midget while shouldering her bag.

"It's lovely how I finally make it out of Ohio only to be here rescuing your scrawny bum from your crack dealer."

Quinn kicks the skeleton man in the stomach for good measure just in case he decides to get up.

"Where are you going in this weather anyway? Why are you in these shady streets? And most importantly, how could you be so stupid?"

Rachel guides Quinn quickly across the street and toward her destination.

"To answer your first, very inappropriate question, I am not a crack whore. I am offended that you would think that I would try to ruin my career in such a disgusting way. As for the second question, I was going to visit Kurt. I've finally been able to have a day off from rehearsals and he's been trying to get me to see his new apartment. Thirdly, that insult will not go unnoticed. I am not the timid little girl I was in high school." Rachel seems to walk taller and straighter as she says this. "What are YOU doing here? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, throwing slushies at someone?"

"If you remember correctly I was never the one to physically throw the slushies. Wait. Did you say you're visiting Kurt?"Quinn stops in the middle of the busy street causing cars to honk noisily in frustration.

Rachel grabs her hand and pulls her along hastily while waving at the drivers in apology. "Yes. And Blaine. I hear Mercedes is there too."

Quinn mumbles. "I live with Kurt. Well, all of them."

They walk in silence until they reach the building. Quinn unlocks the door and ushers Rachel inside while turning the downstairs hallway light on. In order to get to their apartment, they have to go up the stairs. The door at the top opens to their kitchen and living room. The downstairs holds two one-room apartments. One holds a crazy cat lady. The other is vacant. A hobo tends to find a way in there a couple times whenever the cat lady forgets to lock the main building door.

Quinn turns to Rachel to get a good look at her in the light. She's soaked and shivering. Her chocolate eyes aren't giving anything away; they seem like something has shut down in them.

"Are you ok?" Quinn asks quietly and gently.

As the question leaves her lips, Quinn grabs Rachel's hands to show that she is being sincere. They are somehow warm despite the chill of the weather. There are bruises subtly forming around her wrists. Her lip is busted, presumably from the smack that alerted Quinn to the scene in the first place.

"I…"

"BERRY! WHAT THE HELL DID HE DO TO YOU?" Quinn asks eyes wide and staring at the various injuries.

"Obviously he saw me in this somewhat provocative outfit, and, since I have no need for owl sweaters now that I don't become soaked in slushie every day, decided he wanted me. I guess this is the result."

Quinn looks down at Rachel's clothing for the first time since high school. The girl is wearing tight jeans, for the cold weather presumably. As her eyes move upward her heart beats faster. Her damn adrenaline causes her to become hot and bothered all of the sudden. Her white wife beater is soaked, allowing for her crème bra to shine through the fabric. Quinn feels her face get hot in what feels like a breach of Rachel's privacy.

"You wore a tank top in this weather?" she raises her eyebrow in a teasing way, training her eyes on Rachel's.

"Well, he kind of tore the rest of my clothing off and I left them in the alleyway. Don't worry. I wouldn't want to keep any of them anyway. They are beyond repair and I would rather not re-live this."

"Right. Well I'm-"

"I would rather you not mention any of this to them." Rachel says, gesturing up the stairs to Quinn's apartment.

"Shouldn't we call the police or something?"

"And say what? Some guy almost raped me in a shady alleyway? What will they be able to do?"

Rachel has an odd tone to her voice, a voice Quinn can't remember coming from Rachel's mouth. _Is she angry?_ Quinn thinks, watching Rachel bring her hand to her lip and pinch it to stop the bleeding.

"I just… look. I understand that you don't like me. It's fine. I used to go out of my way to torture you or whatever. But if, you know, Kurt isn't here or something, I mean you already know where I live…"

"I won't stalk you, okay? You can be rest assured. Can you tell anything happened to my lip?" Rachel asks, letting go of the affliction.

"No, it is actually not that bad. And I didn't mean that. I just. I'm here for you."

"Well, obviously, Quinn. I mean, Kurt may not have said that you live with him, which is an essential fact to know…"

"I meant if you need me. I'm here if you need me."

"I…"

Quinn can tell Rachel doesn't know how to process that information by the way the Diva doesn't try to make a lecture out of it. Instead Rachel decides on two short sentences.

"Thank you. And you are wrong."

"Wait, just listen, I'll be here. You can trust me. I've matured. Honesty is the best policy. I.." Quinn starts, trying to convince Rachel that she can and will be here for her in the future.

"No. I- I don't hate you. I may not trust you, but I don't hate you. So, thank you. For everything. Honestly. But let's put this behind us and direct our anger toward Kurt who did not inform either of us of the other's presence. I swear he should have known better than that. I, for one, feel as if not giving out all of the details in any occasion is as good as lying to someone. I mean really…"

"Berry. You're making it hard to be civil to you. Just follow me and try and breathe in between sentences."

Quinn walks up the stairs and unlocks the door leading to her home with a sigh. Four classes today, cheerleading practice, work, and Rachel Berry being assaulted in one night really can tire someone. Not to mention the crappy rain.

* * *

><p>"KURT! YOU LOST SOMETHING!" Quinn yells from the doorway as she slips off her sneakers, sets her book bag behind the couch, and jumps onto the couch from the back.<p>

"Make yourself at home, Berry," she waves her hand in the air nonchalantly to symbolically give Rachel the ok to peruse the apartment.

Rachel wanders around the room, waiting for her friends to vacate wherever they were to come meet her. She sees the living room first. It isn't a big area, about as big as a lounge in a normal dorm room, but it has a decrepit couch that Quinn is currently taking up 2/3s of and a recliner. There are various lawn chairs and bean bag chairs strewn across the area surrounding the t.v and various game stations. Posters of obscure vacation spots allow for a calming atmospheric vibe to radiate from the white walls. Overall it seems like a nice place to relax. There is a small kitchen across the way, but Quinn is looking at Rachel perplexingly, so she decides to perch on the end of the couch that Quinn's feet did not reach.

"Why are you perching like that? Relax. None of us bite." Quinn moves into a sitting position and brings her knees up to her chest for her chin to rest on while she studies Rachel.

Rachel easily lets her guard down, which is more than a little odd considering their past.

"I'm wet."

Quinn blushes and looks away as Kurt comes into the living room with Mercedes and Blaine at his heels.

"I didn't know you were into blondes, Rach."

Rachel blushes at the innuendo that had innocently left her lips. "No. Well, kind of. I mean, I don't want to get your couch wet."

"Have you seen this couch? If anything, getting it wet might clean it. Quinn refuses to spend money on another one and the rest of us are basically relying on her to keep the rent at bay so we let her have it."

"There is nothing wrong with Ugly Betty! She has served us well thus far and she is the first piece of furniture I bought on my own! She stays!"

Kurt rolls his eyes and goes around the couch to hug the shorter girl, but decides on a pat instead. She really is quite soaked, as is Quinn. Blaine and Mercedes fight or the next contact with the brunette ending in a very large, very warm, and very wet hug.

"Quinn! Get Rachel some clothing. She's spending the night. You should probably change too, by the way."

Rachel panics. "What? I never agreed to that, Kurt! I have a show to do and classes to prepare for!"

"As if you don't have your lines already down perfectly, have the pitch in the music fantastically practiced, and your homework ready up until next month!" Mercedes says with laughter.

"Besides, it's a Friday night and we missed your overbearing personality. Let us have some fun with you for a while." Kurt says with a smile.

"Yeah! Besides, I haven't sung with you in ages! Or danced! We need a dance party up in here!" Blaine adds with excitement.

Rachel bites her lip in thought. She hasn't had time to make close friends while in college. Half her time is spent in preparation for shows while the other half is balanced between actually performing in shows and doing her classwork. She has never taken the time to hang out with those who she has actually made friends with. The brunette needs to be ready for her classes in the future because she is too busy with Broadway auditions to do the work when it's assigned.

Quinn tosses her a pair of Cheerios sweatpants and a McKinley High tank top. She hadn't even noticed the blonde leave between all of the raucous around her and her inner monologue.

"Take a shower quickly because I'm getting cold in my wet clothes. Towels are in the closet. Showering essentials are in the shower already. Hot is cold and cold is hot."

"Well this clothing is a blast from the past. I can't believe I have my hands on the holiness of which Cheerios clothing most assuredly is."

"Don't push it, little one." Quinn says with a straight face.

_Hm. No anger. That's new. So is the name… I think. And did I notice a hint of a smirk?_

"Thanks again, Quinn. For everything."

Quinn's face begins to redden, probably from the humiliation of being addressed to in the midst of her friends. Rachel shrugs her shoulders at the cheerleader and rushes into the bathroom. She decides to take a quick shower so Quinn doesn't get sick from the cold rainwater she is still drenched in.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I do not own Glee. Special thanks to my beta, Casper (With Good Grace). She's awesome. Go love her :)**

"WHAT THE HELL, HUMMEL? Why didn't you tell me Rachel Berry was coming over?"

Rachel is in the shower, so Quinn takes the opportunity to figure out why her friends had not shared this vital piece of information with her.

"Well, you are stressed enough as it is, and I remember how you felt in high school about our close friend, so why make you stress more? I honestly forgot about your cheerleading practice. I figured we could ghost over the subject since you hole up in your room and do work until your 8am library shift. Then you tend to be out the rest of the day on Saturday after work because you volunteer at that animal shelter, then go work at that restaurant on 5th avenue until 10pm. I figured you wouldn't even see Rachel."

"Besides, Q, it's really not a big deal. We don't expect you to hang with all of us when she is around anyway," Mercedes adds, flitting her hand around as if Quinn shouldn't be having an issue with her friends not telling her about their guest.

Quinn glares at Blaine to hear his excuse since she heard from everyone else in the room.

"You know Kurt makes the final decisions here. I told him to tell you but he felt his plan was fool proof."

"Traitor," Kurt playfully slaps Blaine's shoulder as Quinn rolls her eyes.

"Obviously it wasn't fool proof."

"I feel as if that was a snide remark against my intelligence, Quinn. I will ignore it though and blame it on your foul mood." Kurt says.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm going to get ready for when Berry is finished hoarding my shower."

After grabbing her bag, Quinn walks off in the direction of her side of the apartment.

She and Mercedes share the bathroom, which is perfectly alright with her, but sharing a bedroom that is as tiny as a walk in closet would have been a bit uncomfortable. She jimmies open the drawers of her wardrobe/side table to grab some random sleeping clothes and tosses them onto the twin-sized bed. She then walks over to her desk and starts putting the books from her bag into their correct cubby slots. As she finishes up, she hears a crash in the bathroom. She walks over to the bathroom and knocks gently on the slightly ajar door to warn Rachel before she barges in. What if something horrible happened? What if Berry fell and was knocked out in a puddle of water slowly drowning? Or worse, what if Berry found her secret collection of lucky Pokémon cards in the bottom drawer underneath the sink counter?

"Berry?"

Whenever she opens the door she notices Rachel wincing at her image in the mirror with blood slowly oozing out of the side of her head.

"I was just looking for some Neosporin or something… I mean, he hit my head on the wall pretty hard and I know that I said not to talk about it, but the walls of the city are pretty grungy. I mean, what if he had done the same thing to someone with AIDS in the exact same spot on the wall? Could I have AIDS? I should get checked for AIDS. I'll have to clear my schedule tomorrow…"

Quinn walks into the room, closes the door gently behind her and carefully guides Rachel away from the mirror. She pulls out the Neosporin hidden behind the mirror. On her way over to Rachel, she closes the drawers underneath the sink that Rachel must have previously been looking through. Her Pokémon drawer is not open though so her prized possessions must be safe.

"Relax, little one." Quinn says, wincing at the old term sliding from her mouth so easily. "It's right here. If you keep spouting out word vomit at me I might actually vomit all over your squeaky clean body."

"Thanks." Rachel says as she tries to take the medicine away from her, but Quinn has other plans.

"Sit," she orders.

"I'm not a dog, Quinn."

"Berry. I'm trying to help you. Just pop a squat on the toilet seat already."

Rachel complies; clutching her towel like it is her only lifeline and shield in case Quinn decides to go horror movie on her.

Quinn kneels down to Rachel's now even shorter level and holds her face with her hand. "Let me take care of you, ok?"

Rachel sits in a daze as Quinn smiles in response, stroking her cheek with her thumb before standing up and examining Rachel's cut.

"It's not deep. Head wounds bleed easily," Quinn says aloud for her own comfort.

"I know. Thank you," Rachel says quietly.

"Mhmm," Quinn says while gently applying Neosporin to the wound.

Once she is finished, Quinn gets lost in Rachel's soft hair, combing it with her fingers. Before she notices it, Rachel shoves a brush at her, causing the blonde to smile.

"Since you're up there you might as well make yourself useful," Rachel says quietly.

Quinn obeys and combs Rachel's hair for a while like her mom used to do for her, being careful not to let the hair pull too hard around the cut or have the brush graze the cut's sensitive surface.

"This is nice. My Dads never really took the time to brush my hair whenever I got older. They kind of just left me on my own to get ready for school once I learned what to do."

"My mom combed my hair up until I…" Quinn pauses for a moment, remembering the day that her family had decided she didn't belong anymore, "…stayed at Mercedes' house. It's a nice feeling, isn't it? My sister would take over her job if mom was too busy to do it."

By busy she meant intoxicated or beaten down. So most of the time it would be her and her sister holed up in the bathroom trying to stay quiet, but Rachel didn't need to know that.

"Thank you. I seem to be thanking you a lot recently."

"There is never any reason to thank me. Think of it as payment for my past deeds."

Rachel furrows her brow and bites her lip in an endearing manner which causes Quinn to crack another smile. "What's wrong?"

"I'm trying to decide if I want to keep letting you do this or if I should let you shower. I feel as if the latter may win out. I will vacate the area and get changed so you can warm yourself up."

"Oh. Right. Ok. Thanks."

"Consider it payment for my deeds aimed at you in the past."

Quinn looks at Rachel questioningly but only gets a timid smile for an answer.

"See you when you're out." Rachel says with a wink.

"Huh?"

"Of the shower Quinn. I'll see you when you are out of the shower…" Rachel gives her one of those are-you-feeling-ok looks. Quinn just looks away and goes back to her room to get her clothing.

* * *

><p>"Ok. You can change in my room. It's this one," Quinn gestures around her tiny tasteless room with few decorations, grabs her clothing, and leaves for the shower.<p>

Rachel turns toward the bed where the dry clothing is neatly spread out for her.

She slides the warm sweatpants on. The sweatpants can't possibly compensate for the cold, though, so she scopes the room for a hoodie. The hoodie would also conveniently cover up her new bruises forming from the incident earlier on. As she sifts through the wardrobe of Quinn Fabray it finally hits her exactly what she was doing. This is Quinn Fabray's room. This is Quinn Fabray's wardrobe she is sifting through. She is wearing Quinn Fabray's clothes.

_Hell has officially frozen over._

After thoroughly searching through the girl's wardrobe, quickly glancing at certain drawers that she feels she should not be looking in, she turns her attention to the desk at the foot of the bed. On top of the desk is her salvation, an oversized hoodie. The brunette yanks it over her head and looks down. The familiar Julliard script smiles back at her which confuses her. _Did Quinn look into Julliard at one point? Why didn't she go there? Did her auditions not make the cut?_

Rachel could feel herself getting angry at such an absurd thought. _How could Quinn not make the __cut? And why do I feel a pang in my chest at not being able to go to school with my enemy? Maybe I miss the competition?_

_Maybe Quinn has some obscure cousin that goes there? Or worse, some obscure boyfriend?_

_Why would that be worse?_

Rachel turns her attention to the desk where she had found the large sweater. She expects to see books, hoping to see what Quinn's electives are in school, but instead she finds a keyboard.

A keyboard? Rachel ghosts her fingers gently over the keys that are in pristine condition with no dust to be found. Why would Quinn keep a keyboard on her desk? Rachel looks about the desk, at the cubby holes at the top. Books for various classes are tottering haphazardly in the left cubby with their corresponding binders and notebooks on the right. Introduction books to medicine, social psychology, photography, environmental science, music, and film are displayed. She must have been excused from all of her English, biology, chemistry and psychology intro classes due to her AP scores. The woman must be a genius. No wonder she was so crabby in high school. Rachel would be too if she had to be perfect academically.

Rachel looks at the walls to try to collect her thoughts from all of the overwhelming information, or lack thereof. The walls are a soft yellow with various pictures plastered hastily on the wall. Some are pictures of Quinn from high school. The girl smiles back at Rachel from various positions with Santana and Brittany, Kurt and Mercedes. She even sees one where Quinn is dancing with Blaine during a party at Noah's. There are various pictures of the Glee club performing as well as the Cheerios.

One framed picture catches her eye. In the picture, the club is having their "circle" time to get pumped up before a big performance. Everyone has their hands clasped and connected to symbolize the family connection. Quinn has her hands interlocked with Mercedes and, well, Rachel. They are sneaking a peek at each other, giggling as the rest of the club collects themselves in the silence before the big moment. The memory of that moment makes Rachel feel flushed so she pushes the feeling down into her gut and forces her eyes to skim over these photos to look at others more sporadically strewn across the walls.

These pictures are not of Quinn. They are of other people. Some people she knows, such as Mercedes, and others she does not. These pictures project feeling. Not that the others didn't, but these pictures do not need the memory she has of the event to enhance their meaning. One is a black and white picture of Noah cradling Beth in his arms. Noah holds so much emotion in his eyes that Rachel can feel tears coming to her own as she watches him cradle the sleeping baby in his arms.

"She's fantastic isn't she?" Mercedes walks into the room quietly putting her hand on the shorter girl's shoulder.

"Who is?"

"The photographer."

"The best I have ever seen! I have never viewed pictures so full of meaning before in my life! How did Quinn obtain these pictures? Do you think that they would like to take pictures for my first Broadway performance? I will have to ask Quinn for their contact number…"

"You may want to keep your monologues to a minimum if you want Quinn to give out her number. She wouldn't want you to abuse the privilege of obtaining a way to contact her."

"Well I would only call the photographer whenever I need, her you said? I will have to learn of her name though. She might already be hitting it big with a solo career by the time I am in my first musical…" Rachel wondered aloud.

"Cool it before you have an aneurism, Rach. The photographer is Quinn. You won't have to worry about all of that because I am pretty positive that she would be fine doing you a favor. She's changed and matured a lot since you last had a legitimate conversation with her. She'd jump at any opportunity to make it up to you for high school. Just don't abuse that privilege." Mercedes' tone ended with a menacing edge to it in warning.

Obviously Mercedes had missed Rachel, but she wasn't looking for Quinn to be used by Rachel either.

_Haha. Quinn. Used by me. I wonder if there are snowball fights in hell at the moment. Or even better, could they be making snow angels?_

"Anyway, I just came in here to see what you would like to eat. There's a pizza place that delivers that has vegan pizza on the menu, so there's that…"

"That would be lovely, thank you," Rachel says warmly with a thousand watt smile flashing in the larger woman's direction. "How much is it? I insist on contributing to the payment."

At that moment Quinn walks into her room with a towel in hand trying to dry out the remainder of the water in her hair. She had grabbed her Columbia University Sweatpants, shirt, and has her sweatshirt in her other hand. She's like a walking billboard for the school.

"No. I'll pay for everyone, my trea- is that my sweater?"

"Uhh. I was cold?"

Quinn laughs her sweet laugh that she used to hide in high school. She really is a different person than the one she used to be in high school.

"It's fine. I was just curious as to where you got it since you left your other clothes in the a-"

Mercedes gives a confused look toward Quinn.

"The dryer. You left all your clothes in the dryer and I don't know. I'll tell Kurt to call in the pizzas now." Quinn walks away awkwardly as Mercedes tugs the brunette with her into the living room to socialize with everyone else.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I do not own Glee**

Quinn discreetly smacks her forehead with the palm of her hand. _Really, Quinn Charlotte Fabray? Let's tell the world about the alleyway why don't we? _

"Kurt, call the pizza place. Ask for the usual and add in a vegan. I'll pay for it all, no worries." Quinn says while turning to a very animated Blaine telling Rachel about the latest theatre performance he is writing a script for. "Where has Bunbun hopped off to?"

"Bunbun?" Rachel asks with a raised eyebrow.

Quinn shifts uncomfortably now feeling the childishness of the name for the first time. "My bunny. I bought him as soon as we got here. I was never able to have my own pet as a child and bunnies are cute and floppy and Bunbun is well behaved and he hardly ever…"

"That's a very feminine name for a male bunny, Quinn."

"Shut your trap, Berry, or you will be paying for your own pizza." Quinn mumbles under her breath.

"I offered to pay for my pizza earlier. I would have no qualms with pay- OH MY LORD SOMETHING JUST TOUCHED MY FOOT!" Rachel squeals and stands on the couch as Quinn feels a satisfying smirk start to form on her face.

"BUNBUN!" Quinn races toward the couch and cradles the now terrified bunny in her arms. "Did the mean oompa loompa scare you? You were just trying to make a friend weren't you?"

"QUINN, THAT THING IS AS LARGE AS A RABID DOG."

"I didn't know rabid dogs had their own size, Berry. I am pretty sure any type of dog could get the virus. Mercedes?" Quinn turns toward the medical major who is laughing hysterically trying to use Blaine as a prop to hold her up.

Quinn raises her brow at Mercedes seeing that she isn't going to get a coherent answer out of her for a while and turns her attention back to Rachel.

"Bunbun won't hurt you. If you think about it, he's a vegan just like you, you know."

"That bunny could swallow my arm in one bite!"

Quinn looks at her pride and joy skeptically. "Nah. Probably just your hand."

"Do bunnies even eat berries?" Blaine asks no one in particular.

"The pun is not appreciated." Rachel says curtly.

"It was a legitimate question."

"Another legitimate question is what I have to do to get that thing away from me! It's terrifying!"

"That, my dear Rachel, you will have to take up with the owner." Blaine turns to Quinn with a smirk on his face.

Quinn sighs and snuggles her bunny while grabbing food for him out of the fridge and setting him down in his cage for dinner as Rachel climbs back down from the couch.

"Are you happy now that you have ostracized poor Bunbun from all of the fun?"

"As long as he doesn't eat me I don't care what you do with the monstrosity! A bunny is supposed to be tiny, Quinn! Not a mutant!"

"Are you scared of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles too?"

"They exist in a cartoon world! Besides, they fight crime to keep us safe! Your bunny doesn't talk and carry a weapon to protect me and the rest of the innocent civilians of this city! If your bunny had a weapon it would probably slit my throat!"

"At least you wouldn't yell so much then." Quinn mumbles under her breath to herself. It hurt that someone wouldn't like her baby.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me!" Quinn yells back.

"Woah woah woah! Calm down. White girls be gettin' fierce all of the sudden. Bunbun is away, Rach. You are safe either way. Quinn, Bunbun is happily eating and he doesn't like much noise anyway. Rachel would probably just continue to scare him. Everything is better this way."

Mercedes's attempt at mediating is helped by the doorbell signaling that the pizza has arrived.

Quinn mumbles something unintelligible under her breath as she goes into her room to root around in her bookbag for the money to pay for their small pizzas. Kurt slides off the counter and opens the door with a sly smile.

"Oh helloooooo there handsome! Long time no see!"

"Yeah, I know. Quinn's been pretty busy with, well, everything so I haven't been around much. Sorry, Kurt."

Quinn curses under her breath. Of _course he is working right now! Gosh._ If Rachel hadn't been here they wouldn't have called for pizzas. If Rachel hadn't been here he wouldn't be here at her doorstep with their delivery. _Curses._

Quinn slowly gets up and moves toward the door to their apartment hoping against hope that Henry would be content in taking the money and vacating the premises. She doesn't have time for dating shenanigans. She barely has time to eat most days.

"Hey Quinn!" Her personal golden retriever says excitedly to her once she turns to him with a smile.

"Hey Henry. It's good to see you. Sorry I haven't been able to talk much." _Actually, he might resemble a black lab more._

"It's quite alright. I understand how busy you are." Henry says as he sets the pizzas on the counter and accepts the payment from Quinn. _Or maybe he is a Scottish terrier?_

"Yeah. Hectic as always." Quinn chuckles with anxiousness. _A poodle would be funny. Yes. Maybe one of those black poodles._

"Could I talk to you for a moment before I head back?" _Well a poodle isn't even close, but they are fun to think of him as. Maybe a Chihuahua? A little ankle-biter_. With that she turns to look at Rachel and smiles to herself. _Rachel is a feisty little ankle biter. _

"Uh, sure." Quinn said as she guided him out the door of the apartment and down the stairs. A Scottish terrier, definitely.

* * *

><p>"Who was that?" Rachel asks the room while pointing at the closed door that Henry and Quinn just went through. The man that was at the door was quite handsome in a boy-ish way. He had sapphire blue eyes, an easy-going goofy smile, and dark, messy, jet-black hair. He was light skinned and about a couple inches taller than Quinn.<p>

"Oh, him? One of Quinn's many suitors. With all of those activities she does she finds at least one for every excursion." Mercedes says nonchalantly.

"Well, not so much of her finding them. They find her. She's been on dates with just about all of them, but she never really keeps them for long. This isn't the first time one has appeared at our door asking to talk to her. Anymore it seems as if Quinn is too nice to say no to anyone." Blaine explains.

"A complete 180 from high school, right?" Kurt says nudging Rachel while waggling his eyebrows.

"To this day Quinn refuses to go to the grocery store down the street. Too many guys fall over her trying to get her number. They know that she can't really say no so they have scored a date as soon as she walks in. It took her about an hour to get a carton of milk once because of all the dates she had to say yes to." Blaine says with a giggle at the memory.

"Enough about Quinn! I'm starving!" Mercedes grabs the pizza she tends to share with Quinn and takes the slice with the bubble in the crust before Quinn can get back and fight her for it.

Kurt stares at her wide-eyed from his seat on the counter, "Hello, Mercedes! We have a guest! Serve her pizza!"

"Are you kidding me? Rachel has legs and arms."

"I'll get you a slice, Rach." Blaine says warmly and puts Mercedes' meat-lovers pizza aside with his and Kurt's Hawaiian pizza. "Your vegan slice, m'lady."

Rachel giggles and thanks him. It seems like an eternity since she has hung out with anyone, let alone her friends from high school. Maybe she will call Finn soon and see how he is doing as well. Or, since Kurt is here she might as well ask him, right?

"Sooooo."

"Yes, Rach?" The room at large asks causing everyone to burst into happy giggles.

"Kurt? Have you heard from Finn?"

The room groans, which seems rather odd to Rachel.

"Please tell me you aren't going to go back to that old news." Mercedes says.

"What?"

"Rachel, he is miles away from here. Why would you want to date him again? I'm sure you have plenty of people here that would love to date you. And if not, Quinn has plenty to spare." Kurt playfully bumps her shoulder as he moves to the couch to sit between his friends rather than the countertop.

"_Rachel, why in the world would you break up with me?" Finn asked with that endearing look of confusion on his face._

"_It's just that, there will be so much distance!"_

"_I told you I got accepted into NYU. I could go with you."_

"_What about Carol and Burt? Who would take care of them? Kurt is going to New York and you have always wanted to be an Ohio State Buckeye, Finn. I couldn't take that away from you."_

"_Feelings can change. I want to be with you, Rach."_

"_Well you can't. I am not going to be the one to get in the way of anyone's dreams." _

_Rachel turned to make a hasty dramatic exit with tears already threatening to cascade from her eyes. She had been putting off this conversation ever since she heard he was willing to go to NYU. It was too fairytale-like. Something was off. She may not know exactly what it was, but for some reason it felt wrong. Like he was not the one supposed to go to New York with her._

"_And what would you do without me, Rach?" Finn called from a distance, "How will you make friends? How will you protect yourself in that big city? If you were to get into trouble you would have a higher chance of Quinn, your worst enemy by the way, sprouting out angel wings and flying from miles away to protect you!"_

_Rachel just kept walking. She left her car in the lot near where Finn was standing. Why did she not get in it to tell him this? Not one of her better executed plans, but who cares now? She broke her friend's heart. She felt like crap. And Finn was right to add on top of that. How would a rape whistle help her in her new home? Home. That place will be home. She will find a way to make it work. She always has._

"I'm not looking for a date, Kurt. I am kind of offended that you would think that I would be that desperate to date someone that is miles away. Besides, I'm the one that broke up with him. I was just curious as to what he is doing and if he is well. We did date off and on throughout high school after all. He was my closest confidant whenever I had no friends, if you can recall clearly. So I simply was wondering how my friend is."

"Why don't you ask him for yourself, if he is that great of a friend?"

"What is wrong with you? I just want to know how Finn is doing."

"He hurt you." Kurt says bluntly. "I don't want you to regress into that old news. I love my stepbrother, don't get me wrong, but you and him just don't work out. I just want to save you from hurt."

"I told you I am not looking for a boy…"

All of the sudden the door flings open and bounces off the wall with a loud thud.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THE GULL OF THAT GUY! Where is the liquor? I need liquor. I need something. I don't know. He is such an—", Quinn raises her arms in the air and flails around the room now muttering things that seems as if they are of a different language.

"You're speaking gibberish again, Q." Mercedes says and calmly wonders if she should approach the girl. She hasn't seen the blonde this flustered in a while. All of the work must be driving her to crack.

As soon as Mercedes spoke Quinn turns ridged and quietly excuses herself to her room. Everyone in the living room glances at each other quietly questioning what to do, if they should even follow after her, and who to follow after her. As Mercedes sighs and lifts up from her sitting position, about to go to comfort Quinn, she notices Rachel stride across the room with purpose toward the blonde's bedroom.

"Well this should be interesting." Blaine says.

"I bet you five bucks that they can't stay in that room together for more than an hour." Kurt says with a slight smirk.

"I have faith in our ladies. You're on." Blaine says as he high fives Kurt and tosses a movie into the DVD player as they wait out the chaos that might come for them. Mercedes just makes popcorn and looks worriedly towards Quinn's door.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I do not own Glee. Sorry about the lack of updating. School is really taking up all of my time. Enjoy! Reviews are always welcomed and thank you! :)

Quinn stared at the ceiling in her tiny room lost in thought. The avoiding of men in the vicinity is becoming a problem. She has to stop ignoring calls or else things like tonight will happen all over again. She will just have to find a way to decline the advances of guys without feeling guilty for hurting their feelings. If only she could have her old high school self back! But no, she doesn't want to be the bitch anymore, even if it is easier.

She thinks back to the conversation Henry tried to have with her and groans. It isn't that he's not a nice guy. He just isn't her type. They have no spark. He isn't all that ambitious either. He's rather dopey actually. She already went that route with Finn once. That hadn't worked out too well. It is endearing for a while, but she needs someone to challenge her, someone not afraid of hurting her feelings. He tried to see if he could fit a date into her schedule sometime this week, _third time's the charm right?_,when Ralph barged through the door.

Quinn groans again aloud at the thought of the confrontation as well as the knock on the bedroom door.

"Mercedes, it's alright. Why don't you all just watch a movie for a while? I'm just tired."

The door opens slowly to reveal the last person she expects.

"Rachel? What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"I was going to ask you the same question."

Rachel moves over to the bed Quinn is sprawled out on and perches on the side. She never really seems to look comfortable enough around Quinn. Tired of the brunette not relaxing, Quinn reaches out to Rachel's arm and gently pulls the girl to lie down next to her.

Maybe not one of her brightest ideas.

"You're as ridged as a lamp post, Berry. Will you relax?" Quinn says holding onto the girl's wrist and shaking it gently to emphasize her point. "When you're on edge, I'm on edge."

Rachel winces at the contact and tries to escape the blonde's grip around her wrists. Her eyes widen in fear at the contact. Quinn turns her head to face Rachel and sees the look in the chocolate orbs.

"Oh God, Rachel. I'm sorry!"

Rachel's eyes begin to tear up and she turns on the bed away from Quinn. Quinn, not knowing what to do, just follows her instincts. Comforting someone isn't exactly her strong suit. She grabs Rachel around the waist, a little too forcefully, and pulls Rachel to her so the brunette lies against her body. Rachel tries to struggle away and Quinn just holds onto her. Rachel then turns around and beats at Quinn's chest with her tiny fists. _The girl actually packs a punch_, Quinn thinks as she whispers, "It's ok; you're not alone. I'm here. You're safe."

Eventually Rachel begins to relax and curls her body toward Quinn's leaning her forehead against the taller girl's chest.

"I thought I was the one that needed comforting currently." Quinn says giving a small smile to the girl while stroking her hair. "I'll always be here if you need to talk, little one."

"I can't." Rachel mumbles out from where she has her head placed.

"Why not?" Quinn asks, slightly upset that her help has been rejected by the diva.

"What happened with Henry?" Rachel asks tilting her head to look into Quinn's eyes.

_She must be looking for a distraction_. Quinn can pester her on the subject later when she is ready. _That is, if I ever see Rachel again after tonight._ The thought made Quinn's insides twist a bit but she throws that sentiment aside.

"Henry didn't do anything wrong. He's always been a sweet guy. He kind of reminds me of Finn in that way. The problem was Ralph."

"Ralph? Another suitor I take it?"

"Yeah. Ralph is tiny. Kind of like you," Quinn stills her hand in Rachel's hair for a moment and smiles down at the girl. Rachel gives Quinn her undivided attention as the blonde continues with the story and playing with the brown hair. "He's burlier though. And he can lose his temper, which really didn't make us compatible considering my own temper issues. Apparently he was 'in the area' and decided to drop by."

"How many people do you have that decide to drop by at random hours of the night?" Rachel asks in a subtly inquiring tone.

Quinn just smirks and ignores the question. "Well anyway, Ralph noticed that I was talking to Henry and I had actually said yes to another date with him."

Rachel squirms against her, bringing her head back down and hugs Quinn closer to her. She is acting like a little kid, which is kind of endearing. It was like going back to Kindergarten. Quinn misses looking into her eyes though, but decides the closer contact is just as nice. Quinn has been branching out since she left Lima. She is slowly getting used to contact and showing her feelings, but cuddling is new territory.

"Uhm, yeah. And so he heard me say yes and got really upset. He is one of the few I wouldn't go on another date with. I was strangely attracted to his ambition and even his height was a little cute, but the temper reminded me too much of my father. He wasn't very happy when I said no the first couple of times he asked me out again, and I guess this moment was the straw that broke the camel's back. He balled his hand into a fist and punched Henry right in the nads."

Rachel giggles against Quinn's chest causing an eyebrow raise. "What's so funny about that?"

"A multitude of things really. Ralph is too short to punch Henry in the face, you have guys fighting over you that you really don't seem to want, and the fact that you used the word 'nads' in a sentence." Rachel's giggles begin to escalade at the end of her thoughts and Quinn ends up chuckling along with her.

"Yeah, well the point is violence isn't the answer."

"You sound like Brittany now."

Quinn laughs more "I suppose I do."

"Is that why you came in yelling?"

"I get very upset when people get hurt because of me, whether it is physical or emotional." Quinn quietly says "I am different from high school" at the end to Rachel to let it be known.

"Why did you tell me all of this?"

"I don't know."

Rachel and Quinn stay silent for a while, each girl lost in her own thoughts, until Quinn's stomach verbalizes its hunger.

"You're hungry."

"Eh. I'm used to not eating dinner."

"Your tummy disagrees." Rachel says poking the subject of the conversation.

"I think I am more tired than anything else."

"Yeah, I can understand that. I am too."

Rachel tries to scoot away from Quinn but notices that Quinn's arm is holding her down. "Where are you going?" the blonde asks raising her eyebrow.

"To let you sleep. I'll go to the couch."

"Stay here. I'll take the couch. You're the guest. Besides, they aren't ready for sleep yet. They stay up forever and wake up late." Quinn starts to move over top of Rachel to get to the door, but notices that Rachel's arm is holding her down too.

"Stay. It is your bed. I would feel awful for you to sleep on the couch only to wake up groggy for work."

"Uhm. Ok. The light needs to go off though. I can't sleep with the light on."

The girls look over to the light switch and glare at it, both of them too comfortable to get up. Rachel looks over Quinn's shoulder searching for something heavy enough to throw over to the light switch to pull it down. "What is that?"

"Lambchop. Why?"

"Give it to me." Rachel tells the blonde causing Quinn to arch her brow at the diva.

"Please?" Rachel amends.

Quinn obliges and hands her stuffed animal to Rachel and watches in horror as the diva throws the animal at the light switch. The blond instantly jumps off the bed, accidently knocking Rachel to the ground in her effort to save her friend.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO POOR LAMBCHOP?" Quinn yells feeling instant anger boil up inside her.

"HOW OLD ARE YOU QUINN? WE WERE LYING SO COMFORTABLY AND YOU WEREN'T GOING TO TURN THE LIGHT OFF! WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?"

"GET UP AND TURN THE LIGHT OFF. YOU ARE CLOSER."

Rachel steps closer to Quinn taking her lecturing stance and puts her finger in Quinn's face. Rachel is about to open her mouth when Quinn begins to double over in laughter. She couldn't help it. Rachel is just so damn adorable. She hadn't felt any type of feeling in so long, whether it be anger or otherwise and it just feels so wonderful.

"Are you ok?" Rachel asks with concern for the blonde's mental health.

"Let's just get to sleep, ok?"

Rachel nods and looks at Quinn to take action.

_Take action? What in the world was she supposed to do, pick up Rachel and set her on the bed?_

"Are you going to get back into your position or not?"

"Oh." Quinn sits on the bed in her spot trying to decide whether or not to stick her arm out to be underneath Rachel as they sleep. Would they cuddle like best friends or just lay there awkwardly? Do best friends even cuddle? When did they even become friends? Are they friends?

Rachel rolls her eyes at Quinn, lying on the bed where she was originally. She motions for Quinn to stop acting like an idiot and lay down as well. Quinn does as she is silently told and fiddles with her fingers.

"Thank you." Rachel says to Quinn as she turns her body to look at Quinn's face.

"For what?" Quinn asks the ceiling.

"For taking care of me and letting me sleep here."

"Yeah, well. That's what friends do, right?"

"Right." Rachel says to the blonde as she begins to drift peacefully into sleep. Quinn turns her head to look at Rachel one last time before she does the same.

* * *

><p>Rachel wakes late the next morning. The digital clock on the dresser reads 6:15 and yet she is still too comfortable to get up. She can't help but move closer to her warm moving pillow as she shuts her eyes again blissfully.<p>

_Wait a minute. There is something wrong with that thought._

_Warm. Moving. Pillow. Those words don't fit together._

Rachel opens her eyes quickly and surveys her surroundings. _That's right. I'm at Kurt's. Wait, this doesn't feel like Kurt._ She had had plenty of sleepovers with the boy in question and he never was this close to her as they slept. He never felt this good laying next to her either.

Rachel smells the person in question underneath of her. _Mmmm_. A subtle vanilla flavor wafts toward her. _Wait_. There is a person UNDERNEATH her.

Which means she is on top of a person.

Looking down, she sees Quinn Fabray sleeping peacefully with her head tucked into Rachel's chest.

_Well fuck._

_Oh goodness Rachel, watch your mouth!_

She almost shakes her head sober but remembers that Quinn is still sleeping. Should she try to get untangled from the blonde? She glances down again to find the covers half on the bed and half off. Not only are their arms entangled with one another, but so are their legs.

_This type of thing would happen to me, wouldn't it?_

Moving is clearly out of the question. She has heard horror stories of waking the blonde up from both Mercedes and Puck.

What is she supposed to do now?

_Well Quinn has work at 8 so she will probably wake up at least around 7:30._

_That's about an hour to wait._

_Oh God, do I have to pee._

Rachel then hears a stirring noise in the corner of the room and her heart stops. She looks to Quinn for protection and remembers there isn't much Quinn can do when she is asleep. _When did Quinn become my protector, anyway? How did all of this closeness happen in one night?_

The quiet rustling noise comes closer. _Curse you, Quinn, for sleeping through this auditory avalanche of horror._

Rachel looks at the clock. It reads 6:30. _Where did the 15 minutes go?_

It was probably spent looking at Quinn. Rachel begins to stroke the blonde's hair as she used to pretend someone would do to her ever since she was a kid. Quinn nuzzles closer mumbling something about pokemon and how she would give her dream up to capture them all if she were to have…

"OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL?" Rachel screams and flails around the bed lurching Quinn to the floor and away from whatever terror just attacked her.

Quinn grumpily glares up at Rachel and rubs her eyes, "What is your problem Stubbles?"

Rachel ignores the comment and instead notices how cute the combination of bed head and grumpiness looks on Quinn. _Wait, what?_

Quinn's eyes grow wide with shock and... _Wait, is that fear?_

"I am so sorry Rachel. I didn't mean it."

"Huh? What's wrong?" Rachel's heart is racing, most likely from the fear of _OH GOD IS IT STILL IN THE BED?_

Rachel trains her attention on the moving covers and glares at them.

Quinn looks up to see where Rachel is glaring and smiles. "Did my alarm clock scare you?"

Rachel just keeps staring at the moving thing under the blankets in pure shock. _What in the world is it?_

"Rachel?" Quinn gets up and moves her hand back and forth in front of her friend's face.

"Rachel. It's just Bunbun. I trained him to wake me up so that the rest of the household wouldn't wake up as well. I need movement to wake me up."

"YOU LET THAT CREATURE INTO THE BED WITH ME?"

"Oh calm down, he was in the cage the entire time last night. He just gets up early and hops out."

"ARE YOU TELLING ME THE MONSTER WASN'T SECURELY LOCKED INTO THE CAGE WHEN WE WENT TO SLEEP? I COULD HAVE BEEN RAVAGED LAST NIGHT!"

Quinn raises her eyebrow with a smirk that Rachel hasn't seen directed toward her before. It is kind of disconcerting the way her stomach flips. Conclusion: Quinn Fabray is evil and has an evil minion that would kill her if it had the chance. Quinn doesn't even seem to care that Bunbun has it out for her.

"Bunbun is harmless. Calm down. You will wake the entire house." Quinn says giggling placing her hand on Rachel's shoulder to comfort her for a moment. Quinn then picks up the demon and brings him into the living room, gesturing for Rachel to follow. "What do you want for breakfast? Since I took a shower last night I have time to cook you something."

"Cook me something? What about you?"

"Oh. Well. I'm not that hungry." At the statement Quinn's stomach growls betraying her.

"You sound hungry."

"Truthfully I was just going to grab a sandwich with bacon from McDonald's a couple streets away. I didn't want you to be subjected to my meat."

"Oh. Well, I could go to McDonald's with you. I mean, they have pancakes or something, right?" Either way, she can make an exception to her rule. Honestly, staying in a house with a demon without Quinn to tame it sounds pretty terrifying to her.

"I think so? I don't know. I always get the same thing if I go there." Quinn shrugs. "Are you sure you want to go?"

"As long as you don't mind me tagging along. I've got nothing else to do. Maybe I can grab a toothbrush at a store nearby? That way you won't be subjected to my breath. I didn't know I would be spending the night when Kurt invited me over."

"Yeah, no problem." Quinn sets Demon down on the floor with his breakfast and walks to the dryer to hand Rachel her clothing.

"Here, go ahead and throw this on. I have to make sure I am ready to leave for work once we finish eating. Give me a second and I'll be out of my room ready for you."

When Quinn emerges from her room Rachel can't help but smile at her presence. Quinn grabs two coats out of the closet and her wallet before leaving a note on the counter telling the household where they are in the unlikely event that they wake up, and helps Rachel put a coat on.

"Sorry it might be too big. It's all I've got to give you."

"I seem to be wearing a lot of your clothing lately."

"Well you are always welcome to my clothes any time you want." Quinn says with a smile and holds the door open.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I do not own glee. Comments and criticisms are welcome. Also thank you all for the reviews. :] I'll try to get these out more regularly but I can't make any promises. I've got lesson plans and exams coming up. Thanks for reading!**

"I can't believe you just brushed your teeth in the sink here." Quinn says with a smirk looking over at the tinier girl.

"I can't believe you can't believe it, Quinn. Hygiene is an important factor in life."

Quinn had bought them both some food and they are now sitting at a table in McDonald's happily chatting about nothing in particular. Rachel looks up at Quinn with a smile that makes Quinn feel different. She doesn't know how else to explain it. It just makes her feel better in general. Like everything is melting away.

Quinn glances at her watch and sighs. "I have to go work at the library soon. Can you handle getting back on your own?"

Rachel peeks down at her plate with a shy look that makes Quinn know something is on her mind. They have only been around each other for the night, but the times in high school helped them feel each other out once again. "What's wrong?"

"I was wondering if I could walk you to the library." Rachel states quietly peering up at Quinn looking like a timid little bird.

Quinn raises her eyebrow at the girl in front of her. "I can take care of myself, you know, but if you would like to come with me to the library that would be alright. Just don't brush your teeth in the sink there too, ok? I feel like my job might be on the line if my manager thinks that I am bringing hobos to my workplace."

"I clearly am no hobo, Quinn. I'm insulted."

"Well you are wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday, disregarding my jacket and Julliard sweater."

"THEY'VE BEEN WASHED, QUINN."

"I'm just saying." Quinn shrugs with a smirk as she dumps their trash out and holds the door for Rachel to exit through.

"I've been meaning to ask you about your sweater, by the way." Rachel inquires turning around while walking so she could look Quinn in the eyes. Quinn grabs her hand and pulls her out of the way and beside her in order to save the brunette from falling head-first into a trash can. Quinn's hands tingle and her face heats up causing her to instantly let go. She doesn't want to talk about Julliard.

"Uhm, it is a cotton sweater, really comfortable. That's all I really can tell you about it."

A good ten minutes pass before Rachel tries to harass her again.

"Well, where did you get it?"

"Get what?"

"Your sweater."

"Oh." Quinn says looking straight ahead.

Another few minutes pass by.

"QUINN! Where did you get your sweater?" Rachel asks a bit too loudly and forcefully.

"Uhm, a bookstore in Julliard?" Quinn says glancing at Rachel for a second before avoiding eye contact completely.

"Why is that a question? You don't sound too sure about that."

"What is with all the questions, Berry? I mean really."

"Well, I've always been highly inquisitive-"

"We are here!" Quinn says quickly once they reach the door to the library. "You can go home now. Er, to the apartment. Or whatever."

Rachel gives her that shy look again that makes Quinn uncomfortable. She's learning it is kind of difficult to say no to that look: which will only cause her problems in the long run, she is sure of it.

The blonde sighs in resignation, "What is it this time?"

"Well, no one will be awake whenever I get back."

Quinn scratches her head trying to understand what the petite girl is hinting at. "Probably not." Quinn says with a pause, waiting for Rachel to come out with her issue.

"Well, can I stay here with you for a while? I mean it IS the library. I could find books for my classes. Libraries are wealthy with knowledge, Quinn. Or I could even read for leisure or read up on some new vegan recipes. It could even be beneficial to you! I could look up something delicious and cook for you since you seem to not have a lot of time on your hands for a home cooked meal, and judging by the way everyone in McDonald's knows your name you seem to eat out a lot. It could be fun. But it would all have to start with you letting me into the library where…"

Quinn gently puts her hand on Rachel's mouth to stop her from talking which causes Rachel to let out a startled squeak.

"I don't own the library, Rachel. Anyone can walk in at any time. It's ok with me. It's not like you would have anything to do at home anyway. Your stuff is still at school. Besides, all I do is work behind the desk. I don't have enough authority to kick you out if I wanted to."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"Why would I not be ok with this?" Quinn opens the door and gestures for Rachel to go in ahead of her. She is greeted by Janet who is already working behind the desk and rushing about trying to get everything ready for the rush of people to come in soon.

"QUINN! We are down a worker! Sunni is sick and we have no one to read to the kids today! How are we supposed to handle this? We have so much work stacked up from the week! Why don't the weekday workers actually, I don't know, do work? Seriously! I am tired of this shiii oh, hello there! The library doesn't open for another fifteen minutes or so, and as you can see we are kind of in a state of emergency."

Rachel turns on her heels about to briskly walk out the door when Quinn grabs her by the hand.

"Well this is your lucky day, Jan! Rachel here is looking for a way to occupy her time. We are down one worker, so why doesn't she read to the kids today? She is volunteering, so money is not needed for compensation. Think of it as her community service."

Rachel turns the full charm of her pearly whites on the unsuspecting Janet and Quinn instantly sees her coworker falter.

"And she would work free of charge?" Janet asks Quinn while looking Rachel up and down.

Quinn looks toward the brunette in question who, in turn, looks at her with her eyes twinkling in excitement. "She would be honored."

* * *

><p>Rachel paces the children's section in search of the perfect book to read to the kids. It couldn't be too long or else they might get bored, although Quinn says they tend to leave in the middle of story time anyway. It must have pictures: bright colorful pictures with gold stars and everything that would inspire greatness out of a child. Rachel runs up to Quinn at the desk to ask for her aide in finding such a book.<p>

"Quinn?"

"Yeah? What do you need? Is it quick? I was hoping to put some of these books away before we open. Believe it or not, the library here is always busy."

"Could you look in the catalogue for a children's book that isn't too lengthy but consists of the battle young children must face when they are being oppressed by everyone around them? A book in which the main characters must use their own creativity and talent to solve the problem of the world crashing down around them? Oh, and it would need to have gold stars in it. I want an inspirational book, and what is more inspirational than the metaphor of a gold star?"

Quinn looks up from her computer screen "Huh. Can you try saying that again? I am so sorry Rach, I'm just swamped with work. You said something about using creativity and talent to solve a problem with gold stars, right? Why don't you try The Sneetches? Really, kids love any book, especially the ones with tongue twisters. Oh! And a tip, keep them entertained with different voices. You want Lea on your good side or else she will criticize you the entire time."

"Wonderful! Thank you!" Rachel claps her hands together and races back to the children's section to find the book and practice. She needs to get into her various characters since she would be reading in about a half hour.

-the kids are arriving from the bus that picks them up—

Rachel watches Quinn as she greets each and every child from the desk. She looks so excited to see them. Something in Lima must have been holding this energy back. Why would Quinn be so mean whenever she could clearly be this nice and have everything she wanted? Things must not have worked that way back in high school. Rachel never really understood how the hierarchy worked, she was just glad she was now out of it.

"Quinn! Why are you behind the desk? You should be reading to us!" A little brunette yells.

"Lea, you know that's not my job. Besides, I have one of my best friends reading to you guys today."

"Lea. It's ok. If she is Quinn's friend she's gotta be good." A taller blonde says as she places her hand on her friend's shoulder.

The tiny child looks over to the blonde and smiles.

"Yeah. Maybe." Lea says grabbing the blonde's hand. "But she better get the characters right! I wonder if we can pick the book?"

"I think she is reading The Sneetches today."

"That's my favorite!" Lea jumps up and down by the desk. "Did you tell her that? I think you told her that. You're cheating!"

"How am I cheating? She asked for a book with gold stars and other criteria that I can't quite remember right now."

Of course she wasn't listening. Rachel rolls her eyes at the thought but can't stop the slight smile that is forming on her face as she sits on one of the little chairs in the huge reading circle.

"Is that her?" Lea asks Quinn while pointing to Rachel.

"Yup! Why don't you go meet her while I see how everyone else is doing?"

"Ok!" Lea runs up to Rachel, dragging the taller blonde by the hand. "You must be Rachel." Lea says as she puts a balled fist onto her hip in a stance of authority. "You better get the characters right! This is my favorite book!"

"I'll try my best." Rachel says with a smile. "And yes, I am. What are your names?"

The blonde smiles down at Lea the entire time she talks. It is clear that they are best friends and that Lea might give her the most trouble.

"I'm Lea. This is Dianna. She's quiet, but very nice." Lea smiles up at the other girl.

"You're pretty." Dianna tells Rachel with a smile making Rachel giggle.

"Why thank you. Where is everyone else? Is it just the both of you today?"

"I'll tell you everything you need to know!" Lea exclaims while taking a seat next to Rachel and guiding Dianna to the seat next to her.

"The girl right there is Ashley. She's the biggest girl here, but she's not scary so don't be scared. She is funny and really nice." Rachel smiles in the direction that the girl was pointing and notices Quinn gesturing toward her. She waves at Ashley as she runs to the reading area.

"I'm Ashley. Quinn told me all about you. She said you are a good reader. Can you start now?"

"Well I think we should wait until everyone else gets here."

"Eh, they're not that important."

"uhm."

"Just kidding! I got you! Hey Di!" Ashley high fives Dianna and sits next to the two as they wait for the others to arrive.

"Hey! Pay attention! I am only saying these names once, so you better remember, Rachel!" Lea says as she grabs onto Rachel's arm and glares up at her. Apparently she needs to prove herself to this kid. _Challenge accepted._

"Ok, so the black girl right there is Amber. She sings a lot. Kinda like me."

"Lea, we all sing together."

"Yeah, Di. That's true."

"She has the best shoes." Dianna says and smiles up at Rachel.

"Oh, I love them! They light up when she walks!"

"RACHEL LOVES YOUR SHOES AMBER!" Lea screams across the room.

Amber looks up at Quinn and finishes talking to her before walking over.

"I am supposed to make sure you don't scare her away." Amber says to Lea as she walks to the group.

"I'm insulted."

"You're what?" Ashley asks.

"It means she feels bad about something Amber told her. It normally is one of those words you use when someone says that you are something that you are not and you really don't like what they tell you that you are. Does that make sense?" Rachel asks Ashley, lost in her own ramblings.

"Uhm, kind of?" Ashley muses as Amber sits down beside her.

Amber turns to Lea. "Quinn said you would scare Rachel away. Not me. Yell at her."

Lea gets up from her seat and begins to walk over to Quinn but before she can get away, Rachel sits her hand on Lea's shoulder and whispers in her ear.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it. I need your help to tell me who everyone is, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Right." Lea whispers back.

Two little girls have already made it to the circle by the time they all finished talking.

"That's Naya and Heather. Naya is the girl with the glasses and Heather is the tall girl. Heather likes to dance." Lea beams a smile at the two girls.

"Don't separate them either, or Naya will cry." Amber mutters to Rachel behind her hand.

"Shut up, Amber!" Naya yells and turns quickly to the reassure the brunette "I don't cry, Rachel."

"It's ok Nay Nay. Oh, and Quinn says the boys are coming soon." Heather says smiling.

"Where is Jenna?" Dianna asks.

"Waiting for Kevin probably." Ashley turns to Rachel, "She doesn't think that boys have cooties. Her and Kevin are best friends."

"Oh look! Kevin is here! And so are the rest of the boys!" Everyone left waves at Quinn and runs over to the circle, with one of the boys pulling a little Asian girl by the hand.

"I'm Cory!" A very tall confident boy says to Rachel as he stands puffing out his chest with pride in front of her.

"Are you really?" Rachel smirks at the boy.

"Yup!" He says plopping himself in the seat next to Rachel as the rest of the boys and girl sit down.

Lea stands up and gestures to each of the remaining kids with the rest of the names.

"Jenna and Kevin are there. Ashley just told you about them." Both of the kids in question smile and wave shyly at Rachel. They aren't going to be a problem at all.

"That's Chris! He can sing really high." Lea continues as Chris smiles an awkward smile and looks away toward the boy next to him.

"And the other Asian is Harry." Lea then whispers to Rachel, "He likes to dance with Heather, but since he has cooties they have to do the cootie shot before they dance every time." Harry waves his arms as if they were jelly at Rachel making her laugh at the antics.

"Mark and Cory are next. Cory already said hi to you so you know who he is. Mark is the one in the bird shirt."

"They're corvids!"

"Whatever Mark. They're birds. Hey! Where is Darren and Chord?"

"Darren said he wasn't coming because he was feeling sick and Chord wanted to stay with Quinn." Chris says.

"Oh. Well that is everyone!" Lea says smiling at Rachel proud of conveying such important information to the newbie.

"So she knows all of our names?" Cory asks.

"Well yeah, I told her!" Lea states offended.

"What's my name then? Huh?" Naya asks interrogating Rachel.

"Naya. You're the one who is best friends with Heather." Rachel says as she gestures toward Heather. "Who, by the way, likes to dance, as does Harry." Rachel says moving to point at Harry.

Lea flashes a megawatt smile at her.

"How did you know that?" Harry asks.

"I had a great teacher." Rachel says winking down at Lea next to her. "Now, who wants to hear about the Sneetches?"


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I do not own Glee, obviously. Thank you all for the reviews and patience :) I hope you enjoy.

"You know, that Rachel girl is good with those kids."

"Huh?" Quinn responds actually looking at Janet for the first time since the kids swarmed in.

"You've been watching Rachel read her third book for the past ten minutes." Janet says with a smirk. "Even Chord left your side to join the rest of the kids."

"Yeah." She says softly returning her eyes to Rachel.

"Are you going to say more than one word sentences?"

"Maybe." Quinn answers with a smirk.

"Does she need a job?"

"Wait. What?" Quinn asks actually paying full attention to her friend for the first time all day.

"Rachel. Does she need a job? Sunni wants to make it so that she only has to come in when we call for her. She found a full time job for the entire week so she wants her weekends off. If Rachel needs a job she could always get some money working here reading to the kids and then if she needs days off its easy because Sunni will be there to fall back on."

Quinn returns her eyes back to Rachel smiling happily with the audience of children around her.

"I'm sure she would be up for it. Just ask her."

"I have a feeling she would be more up for the offer if you ask her." Janet states trying to read Quinn. "So pleeeeease?" She asks dramatically clasping her hands together about to get down on one knee.

"Please what?"

"Ask Rachel to join our happy dysfunctional family?"

"Yeah, no problem." Quinn says waving the thought away signaling not to worry about it.

"Oh, and your shift has been over for about a half an hour." Janet states.

"What? Seriously! You tell me this now!" Quinn looks at her watch. It reads 2:00pm. She narrows her eyes at Janet. Her shift actually ends now.

"You really think I would be that mean? You know the real problem will be tearing those kids away from Rachel. They already read three books and played various games all day. We might as well get paid for babysitting services the way these kids get dropped off."

"Their parents are busy a lot, some of them more so than others." Quinn turns to look at Janet. "I babysit them from time to time actually."

"Rachel might be taking that job away from you when these kids go home to tell their parents about their day."

Quinn shrugs "Whatever makes them happy. I already have two jobs and classes that are becoming neglected."

Quinn walks over to Rachel and whispers in her ear, "how much longer until the book is finished? I've got to head out and do some volunteering."

"You're in luck!" Rachel says as she closes the book. "We just finished!"

"Wonderful! Ok all, I am going to have to take Rachel here with me. I promise to bring her back soon. She might be staying here permanently!"

"What?" Rachel asks Quinn quietly while the children scream in joy and begin running to hug the two women good-bye.

"Janet offered this as a job for you on the weekends. It won't even interfere with your shows because you can always call off and Sunni can cover for you. It's the best job you could ask for!"

Rachel smiles up at Quinn and hugs her fiercely in what Quinn thinks is shock. She accepts the hug anyway and lets Rachel decide when to let go.

"Quinn! Quit hogging Rachel! I want to hug her good-bye! She has to save the best for last and I'm last!"

"Sorry Lea. I didn't know I was in your way." Quinn says stepping away from Rachel holding her hands up in surrender.

"It's alright. You didn't know." Lea says as she hugs both Quinn and Rachel. Quinn then guides Rachel out of the library with a hand on her back.

"So where are we going now?" Rachel asks with a bounce in her step.

"Well I'm going to the animal shelter to volunteer. I take the dogs for a walk to get them moving and then give them baths to look nice and happy for potential owners. You can join me if you want, but I feel kind of bad for stealing you all day. Technically you aren't even my guest.

Rachel waves off the thought. "Oh technicalities. Who cares? I'm yours." She says batting her eyelashes at Quinn, acting as if she is in some cheesy romance movie. Quinn laughs and shakes her head at the shorter girl. "You are insane, little one, I hope you know that."

Rachel shrugs and just smiles seeming perfectly content with the world. Quinn blushes as their hands brush together. They are walking so close to one another that she can smell a familiar floral smell wafting from the shorter girl beside her.

There is a short comfortable silence as they move in synchronization toward the animal shelter.

"Rachel?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"You just did." She said while bumping her in the arm.

"You know what I mean."

"Ask away."

Quinn takes some time figuring out whether or not she should ask Rachel about the alleyway. They aren't really that close quite yet. They only really had started to talk last night. And she doesn't want to ruin Rachel's just-got-a-job-and-successfully-worked-with-little-kids high. Maybe the question should wait.

"Would you like to spend the night again tonight?"

The question slips out of her mouth without a moment of thought. She can feel her eyes grow wide with shock and she turns her head to face a different direction. The animal shelter is only a block away. She can make a run for it if she really wants to. But then again, Rachel knows where she is going and that girl is rather persistent.

Rachel seems to have zoned out on Quinn's lips without registering the information sent, so Quinn waves her hand in front of Rachel's face. The look Rachel is giving her is unnerving to say the least.

"Hello? Earth to Rachel! Come in Rachel!"

Rachel shakes her head and life is brought back to her eyes.

"Oh look! She lives!"

"Sorry Quinn. What were you saying?"

"Just that I am excited to volunteer with you." _That sounds pretty lame Fabray, but at least it's better than asking the alternative._

"Oh yes! Of course! I love animals!"

"Why don't you love Bunbun then?"

"That isn't an animal. It is a demon that needs to be exercised by only the holiest of men. I don't even know if the Pope could save that thing."

"Well I think that—"

"Oh look Quinn! We are here!" Rachel excitedly opens the door for the blonde and steps aside to let her in using a grand gesture. "I've secretly wanted to do that all day. You keep opening the doors for me, I felt like it was my turn."

Quinn quirks her eyebrow at Rachel as she walks in the door smiling but groans as soon as she sees who is at the counter. She turns around about to exit the door whenever Rachel walks in colliding into her, sending them sprawling on the ground.

"Oh hey there Quinn!" Quinn shuts her eyes tightly in the hope that when she opens them the girl would be gone. She slowly opens one eye and then the other to find Abigail extending a hand to both her and Rachel to help them up from the floor. "Klutzy as always, I see. You can't help but fall around me, right?" The woman says with a wink.

Once Quinn gets to her feet she wraps an arm around Rachel's waist and greets Abigail back. "Hi Abby. Sorry I haven't been around. I have just been really busy with work. You know how it is."

"And who is this? You're from Julliard, huh? What class? Major? I'm up there too for theater. Quinnie here enjoyed my last performance in Les Mis, didn't you?"

Rachel looks up at Quinn perplexedly and Quinn sends her a silent warning with her eyes. Abigail and Rachel in the same room is a bad idea. Abigail and any of Quinn's friends in the same room is a bad idea. Hopefully Rachel would let her do all of the talking.

Apparently Rachel doesn't get the eye memo.

Rachel extends her hand again for a more formal greeting. "Hello. I'm Rachel Berry. Yes, I go to Julliard, but this isn't my sweatshirt. It's Quinn's. I am a—"

Abigail laughs a mystical laugh. "Oh sweetie, that isn't Quinn's. That must be mine. It was nice of Quinn to let you borrow it though. You can have it. I'll just go over to Quinn's later to get it. Actually either of you could hand deliver it to me if that is a better alternative. That would be perfectly alright with me."

"Can we just have the next dog to walk please? I will call you later. Oh, and by the way, I see what you are doing. Please just relax. She is a friend. And you know for a fact what I expect out of what we are currently. I'm not ready for that yet. So just. I don't know. Calm down. Leave her out of it." Quinn says quietly while looking down at the floor but tightening her arm around Rachel's waist.

Abigail's emerald eyes soften considerably and she takes her hand lifting Quinn's chin up so that she can look into her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'll give you Bernard today. How about that? He is the best behaved dog in the kennel and you can have fun with your friend." At friend she flashes her eyes to Rachel but Quinn can't see the intent behind it. With that Abby slaps Quinn on her ass as if to say "mine" and trots to the back of the kennel, her long curly cherry hair bouncing all the way back.

* * *

><p>"Well she's…"<p>

"Irish?"

"Not exactly the word I was going to use, but then again, what do I know? I just met her."

Quinn and Rachel are walking around a park close by with Bernard, the St. Bernard. It has been about ten minutes since they left the building and since either of them spoke.

"How did you meet her?"

"That's a long story I would rather not get into right now." Quinn says as she stares at her feet.

"Are you two, you know…" Rachel suddenly feels a little queasy. She doesn't think it is the extra PB&J sandwich that Janet had kindly let her have for lunch either.

"That kind of goes along with the other story."

"So are you…?"

"I don't really know, Rachel. It was just. I don't know. Maybe I will tell you some other time. Right now I have to call S and B. San gets pretty pissed when I don't check in at least two times a week because it scares B. Want to talk to them too?"

Rachel looks skeptically at Quinn hoping that she will understand.

"They are really not that bad. Santana is a lot better now that she actually came out as a, well, you know. She even focuses on school work more now that she has Brittany and no reason to pout."

Rachel watches as Quinn dials the number she has memorized and listens to the phone ring. This cannot end up well. It just seems like today is the day to surprise Rachel Berry. First she gets a job reading to kids, which might actually help her acting if she really is stretching the truth. Then she gets harassed by Quinn's _ex- girlfriend? One night stand? Bringer of sweaters?_ Rachel shivers at the thought of Quinn with the redhead. Maybe she can train Demon to attack her. Knowing her luck the redhead is actually in control of Demon. Maybe she should just stay away from Quinn's apartment from now on. That thought makes her chest start to hurt though.

"SAN! BALLAD POOPED IN YOUR SHOES AGAIN. DO YOU WANT ME TO CLEAN IT UP?" A far away voice yells from the speaker of the phone Quinn is holding.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK? IF HE DOES IT AGAIN I AM GOING DUCK HUNTING AND IT WON'T BE A VIDEO GAME THIS TIME. Hello?"

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE SAN!" The faraway voice yells back.

"Hey S. Sounds like you have your hands full. She's right you know." Quinn says with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah. As if you wouldn't do the same if Ber.."

"YOU'RE ON SPEAKER PHONE, S." Quinn yells at her phone. She looks a little disoriented which is rather odd but Rachel lets it slide. They can hear Santana's laughter on the other end.

"Who is in the room this time?"

"Just me and, well, Rachel."

"Is Rachel a new chick or is that the one that you had…"

"BERRY. Rachel Berry." Quinn says over top of Santana suspiciously.

"Hello Santana." Rachel says as pleasantly as she can muster.

"You're kidding. You've got to be kidding. It's like your dream come true, Fabray!" Santana says laughing.

Quinn blushes at the phone and looks in the direction of Bernard. She must have been upset about how Santana was clearly thinking that Quinn still hated Rachel.

"We have made amends, Santana. No reason to be sarcastic."

"Have you really, Berry. And how did she accomplish that?" Santana then yells to Brittany, "HEY B! ARE YOU FINISHED CLEANING UP? Q IS ON THE PHONE AND SHE HAS A SURPRISE UP HER SLEEVE."

Quinn and Rachel look at each other, neither one feeling as if it would be intelligent to tell Santana about the alley way. "Well, I noticed she was outside my apartment when I was coming home last night. Apparently Hummel had set it all up and had decided I wasn't important enough to know of Rachel's presence." Quinn says a little stiffly.

"Oh. Well that was a lot more PG than I thought it would be."

Rachel squints at the cell phone clearly missing an important part of the equation. "Quinn is not really all that confrontational. She likes to avoid violence when she can."

"That's not Quinn." Brittany's voice comes from within the phone. "That sounds kind of like Rachel."

"That's because I am Rachel."

"RACHEL? SAN! IT'S RACHEL! QUINN AND RACHEL ARE TOGETHER IN NEW YORK! Hey San, can we be together in New York?"

"We can discuss that one later, ok?"

"HI RACHEL! HI QUINN! Oh, and Ballad says hi!"

"Who's Ballad?" Rachel asks Quinn quietly.

"It's their mallard. They've had it since sophomore year. I am surprised he's not dead yet."

Rachel giggles, "Knowing Santana she might have already replaced the duck."

"What are you two whispering about over there? Brits and I are the ones who were called. You should be paying attention to us and not your little love fest."

"Haha sorry S, I didn't know that you valued our attention so much. Look at that Rach, she loves us."

"Shut up! I am incapable of loving."

"Well last night didn't seem that way. In fact, you said…"

"What I say and do to you doesn't count, B. You know that. You are the exception to every rule."

Rachel starts humming "you are the only exception" under her breath.

"Shut up mockingbird or I'll rip ya a new one when we come over there!"

Rachel closes the gap between her and Quinn. That at least makes her feel a little better about the news, "What do you mean you are coming over?"

"SAAAAANNNN you ruined the surprise!"

"No I didn't B, trust me." Santana then mumbles under her breath, "You just might have though."

"What was that you said there S? At the end?"

"Shut up Q. Go enjoy your faberry juice!"

"What is she talking about?" Rachel asks as she looks up at Quinn.

"Nothing."

They hear a snort from the other end of the phone.

"So anyway, you two met up last night? And Hummel didn't tell either of you? Well I'm sure that was interesting on both ends…"

Quinn rolls her eyes and just agrees.

"So then, if you met up last night, and you are together today, then did you guys meet up again?"

"Well, not really."

"Berry spent the night with you, didn't she? What did I say about this, Q? I mean, kudos, but you should probably learn something from Brits."

"You don't sleep with a girl on the first night, Q! Unless it's San. But even we didn't sleep together at first because we met each other when we were all little, right?"

"That's true, B." Quinn says and smiles at the phone. _She must be missing them a lot. Especially if she calls them all the time like she says she does._

"Well there weren't many other options but to sleep with Quinn. She can be quite convincing you know."

Quinn just stares at her in shock with her jaw dropped open for some reason, Rachel isn't sure why. She just smiles at her and closes her mouth for her as Santana starts howling with laughter on the other end of the phone. Once Santana collects herself she goes on with the questioning.

"Sounds like she was quite assertive."

"She wouldn't take no for an answer! I tried to tell her that I would be fine on my own but she seemed appalled by the idea, not that I wanted her to be alone either." Santana starts howling with laughter again and begins to fade out of hearing.

"San just left. So Rachel, how was Quinn? I've always imagined she would be rough."

"Nah, she's actually quite the gentle sleeper."

"Rachel. Can we just not talk about this right now? You are giving them the wrong impression."

"Look who finally woke up for the conversation! Nice to have you back Quinn!" Rachel says and hugs the girl around the waist. She is so excited that she actually had a civil conversation with Santana that she doesn't notice that she hasn't let go and that Quinn has yet to pull away.

"Hey B, make sure S knows that we didn't, well, you know."

"I know." There is a pause and Brittany says "You didn't wink back."

"Huh?" is their collective answer.

"Q didn't wink back. I winked at her and she didn't wink back."

"Brittany, you can't see us wink and we can't see you wink. We are on the phone." Rachel said and smiled. She truly did miss Brittany. Santana not so much, but Quinn was right. Santana isn't that bad any more. She is much more relaxed.

"Oh. Right. Sometimes I forget."

"That's alright B. I do too actually. I talk with my hands when I am on the phone all the time." Quinn says.

"Well yeah. You have to use your hands to hold the phone up, silly. I do that too."

"She has a point there." Rachel says to Quinn.

"Yeah, yeah."

"How's Bunbun? Ballad can't wait to meet him. And Charity is getting antsy too!"

Rachel turns questioning eyes to Quinn. She mouths "her cat" to Rachel which made her nod in sudden recognition.

"Bunbun is doing well. He is really happy now that he is out of the shelter. Rachel doesn't like him much though."

"Rachel! That's mean. Just because he needs to take medicine every day doesn't mean he is a bad bunny."

Quinn drops the phone.

"Quinn?" Rachel asks.

"I forgot to give him his meds." Quinn whispers.

"What?"

"I forgot to give Bunbun his meds Rachel! What am I going to do? I don't even think I have any left in the fridge! He is going to need to get a shot then and I need to buy more meds. Like now!"

Quinn runs after Bernard to get his attention and puts him back on his leash. Rachel picks up the phone and tells Brittany what is going on.

"Ok. I'll tell San you both said bye and that you didn't have sex. Bye Rachel! Say bye to Quinn for us! I'm glad you and Quinn are friends again. She doesn't seem fake happy anymore."

"What?" Rachel asks the phone but all she gets in response is a dial tone.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I do not own Glee**

"ABAGAIL! WHERE ARE YOU?" Quinn yells bursting into the Kennel with Bernard and Rachel on her heels.

"Calm down Fabray. Where is the fire? You know you have to go to work here soon, right?"

"Fuck." Quinn curses under her breath.

"Woah woah woah. Calm down there firecracker. Take it easy. What's wrong? What can I do?"

"It's Bunbun."

"Did you run out of meds again? Really Quinn, you don't have to hyperventilate whenever you run out. He's good for 24 hours. You know this."

"It's been over 24 hours. I forgot to give him his meds this morning before I left since there wasn't another container of meds in the fridge and Rachel was there and I was happy and Bunbun was fine this morning! And…"

"Calm down." Abigail grabs Quinn's face with her hands and looks into her eyes while Quinn looks frantically around in the emerald orbs. Her breathing was beginning to slow but she still felt lost.

"Quinn?" Rachel reaches out and Quinn felt their fingertips graze. She pulls out of Abigail's hands and looks into Rachel's concerned eyes.

Those eyes. They look so warm. She lifts her hand to cup Rachel's face to look into her eyes further. She feels at home in that moment more than she has ever felt before. Safe. Something she has been missing. It may have only taken two seconds, but it feels like everything is in slow-motion now. She knows exactly what to do. She shuts everything out and focuses. She can feel her old self kicking in. She has to do something.

"Abigail, get the shot and the extra medicine. I can't be late for work today. The big boss is coming from the main agency to check up on the restaurant. Rachel will take it back and give it to Mercedes. Mercedes knows how to administer the shot and she is home today anyway."

She gives Rachel the keys to her house. "Stay with Bunbun. Make sure he is ok. Get my number from Mercedes and text me when things are figured out. I expect to see you still there when I get home tonight. Do not take Bunbun to the vet. I am going to call my friend on the way to work and he will come over to take a look at him. My bunny better not be dead when I get back, Berry. Yesterday I gave him his meds around lunch time so he should just now be starting to freak out. You will be fine. Just listen to Mercedes. He will not bite you."

_Ok that last part might have been a lie, but Rachel will be less hesitant to be near him if she thinks he will behave._

"Oh, and make sure Mercedes remembers that after you give him the shot he needs the meds."

"Uhm. Ok. What is wrong with Bunbun that he needs meds for?"

"God! You haven't told her anything, have you? I should just go and help him." Abigail dumped the medicine in Quinn's hands and looked about for her jacket.

"Abigail you are needed here. This is your job. Deal with it. I will let you know how he is as soon as I am home." Quinn runs her fingers through Abigail's hair. "Don't worry. He will be alright. Rachel and Mercedes will take care of him."

"It's the brunette that I am worried about." Abby mutters under her breath.

"She is more than competent in any situation. Just have faith in her." With that Quinn kisses Abby's forehead and drags Rachel out of the kennel with the meds.

Quinn hails a cab to take Rachel to the apartment. This way she wouldn't get lost and she would be safe. It might be a little quicker too.

She opens the door to let Rachel into the back talking the entire time, "Now remember. Just get Mercedes. She will know what to do. I will explain everything when I get home. Spend the night. I'll be back late. You can sleep with me again. Or I can take the couch. I don't care. Just please. Spend the night. Remember, shot then meds." She shoves enough money for the cab and a decent tip into Rachel's hands and is about to shut the door when Rachel grabs her hand.

"Quinn."

"Yeah?"

"It will be ok."

"I know." Quinn smiles slightly at Rachel. "With you around, it will be." Quinn was about to pull away to try and close the door again when Rachel tugs on her hand causing Quinn to fall into the car.

"What are you…"

Before Quinn knows what is happening Rachel hugs Quinn tightly and brings her into the car with her and closes the door.

"Where is your work? Just ride with me to your work. You look so lost. I can't- just, please ride with me."

Quinn tells the cab driver where her work is and he starts driving. She then turns to look Rachel in the eyes. Before she knows it tears start to obscure her vision.

"What if he dies?"

"He won't."

"But what if he dies?"

"Then I will be here. And when he doesn't die I will be here too." Rachel says holding Quinn even tighter.

"Thanks. Just remember what to do."

"Mercedes is there. How hard can it be? The Demon will be fine. I will text you with updates. Your worries are not necessary."

"Thank you."

"You just said that."

"And I will keep saying that until I find a reason not to. I doubt I will though."

Rachel looks away from her, making Quinn miss looking into the melting chocolate. "I have a game for you, little one."

"What?" Rachel looks at her skeptically. "This is hardly the time for a game."

"I need a distraction."

"Alright, what is the game?"

"I will answer one prying question every day, but only one. The condition is that you have to answer one of my questions. Deal?"

"What constitutes a 'prying' question?"

"I don't know. We can figure it out as we go. I just need a distraction to think about at work rather than Bunbun."

"Alright. Deal."

The cab driver finally arrives at the restaurant.

"Thanks." Quinn says to the driver as she exits the car after running her hand through Rachel's hair one last time. Before she shuts the door she leans into the cab to speak to Rachel. "Just remember to…" Rachel puts her finger on Quinn's lips to keep her quiet.

"I'll remember. I'll take care of the Demon. Just impress your boss." Rachel removes her tiny finger from Quinn's lips and smiles up at her. "Oh, and don't leave me waiting at home too long. Goodness knows the shenanigans we could get into with all of us under one roof without your supervision."

With that Quinn says thank you one last time to Rachel and shuts the door. She turns around to look at the restaurant as the cab speeds away. This is the last place she wants to be whenever her baby is most likely contorting in pain at home. Rachel will take care of him. She has to. Wait. If Mercedes is there then she should have already went out to get the shot and medicine which would save poor Bunbun. So then he is already safe in Mercedes's arms snuggling and thinking happy bunny thoughts. She is worried for nothing, right? Either way she calls Trevor quickly and has a short conversation about how he should check up on Bunbun.

Quinn later walks into the restaurant expecting to hostess, but is stopped whenever her manager, Leo, comes up to her. Leo is a middle aged man, old enough to be her father, but young enough to still look handsome. He has a Pierce Brosnan look to him if you ask her.

"Fabray. There has been a change in plans. I need you to go back to the lockers and change quickly. You'll be waiting the tables. I need my best and brightest catering to our guests tonight. Not only is my boss here, but the health food examiner decided to pay us an unexpected visit. You make us look flawless and sit through a little bit of harassment and you'll get a raise. Now go." Leo says as he guides her to the back of the restaurant and leaves, probably to do something business-y.

Quinn quickly changes and silences her phone before she puts it in her pocket. She may not be able to check it at all tonight, but at least she would be able to peek at it in between rounds or in the bathroom. She glances at her watch. It reads 5pm. The rush was about to come in and she needs to please these jerks. Looks like it will be a long night.

5:10pm. Quinn takes the order of the health inspector. He makes a pass at her and she smiles gracefully. She considers whether it would be worth it to spit in his food and lose her job. It isn't.

5:15 pm Quinn checks back in with the inspector who has drained his drink. He slaps her ass as she walks away with the empty glass to pick up another.

5:30 pm Quinn returns to the inspector's table with his food and spots the boss. Showtime.

5:32 pm Quinn introduces herself to the man and his wife. She acts as if she were with any of her other customers. He doesn't need to know that Quinn knows he could potentially cause her to lose her job.

5:33 pm Quinn makes the boss laugh as she talks about her ex's Italian family and how she always felt welcome when they were dating. The man clearly enjoys the company as does his wife.

5:35 pm Quinn asks the inspector if he is enjoying his meal. He says it would be better if she were on the menu.

5:36 pm Joey, a coworker, dumps a little bit of ice water down the front of Quinn's shirt when she trips on the inspector's foot.

"I am so sorry!"

"It's fine Jo. Let's just go to the back to clean it up. No foul. It happens to the best of us."

5:38 pm Quinn finds out that Joey was trying to keep Quinn from doing something stupid. It worked, but apparently Jo didn't notice that Quinn is wearing a thick white shirt that doesn't cover up a fuchsia bra when wet.

5:39 pm It becomes apparent that Joey is at least bi and is totally gay for Fabray.

5:40 pm Quinn apologizes to both the inspector and the boss. The inspector throws a fit at being ignored for 5 minutes. Quinn takes it gracefully and apologizes. She also sternly tells him that he might consider keeping his feet under the table. That way the waitresses might not trip and cause him to lose ample face time with his own waitress.

5:41 pm Quinn hears quiet chuckles from the boss's table as Quinn asks the inspector if he would like any dessert. "No, but would you like to taste my twinkie?" was his response. Quinn politely declines and tells him to ask Gerard, another coworker. She says that he will be more than willing to take up the inspector on his offer.

5:42 pm More chuckling from the boss's table is heard.

5:43 pm Quinn brings the food to the boss's table and says that if they need anything not to hesitate to get her. She also nonchalantly winks at the boss's wife when she is asked about Gerard. The company laughs and begins eating.

5:44 pm Quinn brings out the bill for the inspector and tells him to have a wonderful night.

5:50 pm Quinn goes back to the inspector's table and notices that not only was there no tip, but he skipped out on about half of his bill. The only thing he left is his name and his number on a napkin. She rips it up and paid for the rest of his meal out of her own pocket.

5:53 pm Quinn checks up on the boss's table and is sucked into a conversation about glee club.

6:00 pm Quinn leaves the table to rush back to the rest of her customers apologizing profusely which starts up more conversations.

6:05 pm Quinn excuses herself to the bathroom where she takes a peek at her phone.

**Hey Quinn, It's Rachel Berry. Uhm, so Mercedes got here kind of late but Bunbun is doing fine. Kind of. That's a funny story actually… I'll update when you get home. – Rachel Berry * 5:20pm**

**Hey Quinn, It's Rachel Berry again. Just making sure you got my last message. The Demon is fine. As a matter of fact the guy you sent got here a little while ago. He gave him a check up and said he is good to go. Why didn't you tell me that the Demon is a lab experiment? We will discuss this when you get home. – Rachel B* 5:30**

**Hey Quinn, It's Rachel. You can come home to your demonic bunny now. It won't leave me alone. -RB* 5:33**

**Quinn. I'm not kidding. You better be home soon. -RB* 5:35**

**Q, If I am dead by the time you get home blame your demon. -RB* 5:37**

**Q, Why did you make me save it? -R* 5:39**

**QUINN FABRAY WHENEVER YOU ARRIVE HOME YOUR ASS BETTER BE TRAINING THAT DAMN BUNNY TO STOP JUMPING ONTO THE DAMN FURNITURE AND SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME. YOU HEAR ME FABRAY? IF YOU DON'T, ONE OF US WILL BE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH TONIGHT AND IT SURE AS HELL ISN'T GOING TO BE A STUNNING YOUNG INGENUE. –RACHEL YOU-BETTER-GET-YOUR-ASS-HERE-SOON BERRY* 5:41**

**Dear Quinn, I apologize for my last message. It was uncalled for and I wrote it in a state of terror. I hope your night is going well. I will be staying up until you arrive home. Once again I apologize for m rudee behavior. -Yours, Rachel Berry* 5:43**

***my rude -*R 5:50**

**P.S. I miss you. -* 6:00**

Quinn smiles as she shuts her phone. The smile doesn't leave her the rest of her night.

* * *

><p>Rachel stares up at Quinn's apartment with a queasy stomach. The Demon's life is in her hands, as is Quinn's happiness. Getting up on stage has never made her quite this sick before. Even for her first performance in Julliard. She turns the key that Quinn gave her to let her into the apartment complex and walks up the stairs dragging her feet. The next key on the key ring is presumably the one to the door in front of her. She takes a deep breath and unlocks the door.<p>

There are two things she notices as soon as she walks in. One, it is quieter than it usually is. Two, the Demon is nowhere to be found. Rachel closes the door behind her quietly, hoping that the Demon is asleep in Quinn's room. She tiptoes around the room about to go toward Mercedes's room whenever she notices a note on the counter and drops the medicine next to it.

"Hey Q, R,

We went out (obvs.). I should be back 5, but K and B are going out 2 dinner! Love u both!

-M"

"Well fuck." Rachel curses aloud. What is she supposed to do with a Demon running around without its meds? She looks through the medicine for the shot box.

"Take cap off and administer into the muscle of the gluteus maximus. That sounds pretty self explanatory. That won't be the hard part though."

Rachel grabs the shot out of the box and begins searching the room she is currently in for the Demon. So far she is safe. She then goes to Quinn's door and opens it slowly to find what one can only assume is a rabid man eating rabbit running after her about to claw her brains out and rip her to shreds and tie her up and torture her to death by clawing out her eyes. With this information instantly sent to her brain, Rachel acts on instinct and shuts the door in the Demon's face.

BANG.

-silence-

About two minutes pass, which feels like hours by the way, until Rachel can't take the suspense. She opens the door to find the Demon sprawled out on the floor.

"Of course I killed you. This would be my luck. Right whenever we were becoming friends, I had to kill Quinn's pride and joy. Damn Demon." Rachel begins to tear up for the poor cute monster and walks over next to it to jab it with her foot.

It begins to stir.

"OH MY GOD! IT LIVES! IT'S THE WALKING DEAD! KILL IT!" Rachel then gives it a "love tap" with her foot which sends the bunny flying onto the bed. She then brings the shot out and uncaps the pointy end.

"I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE THIS ON YOU, DEMON. YOU MAY HAVE FOOLED EVERYONE ELSE HERE, BUT YOU HAVEN'T FOOLED ME." The bunny then looks up into her eyes pathetically and closes its eyes slowly.

"Shit. I think it's dying." Rachel walks quickly over to the bunny and touches it with her finger to make sure it won't attack. It just kind of lays there.

"Well that can't be a good sign." She begins petting Demon's back. It is barely breathing. She then takes the shot and whispers to it quietly, "This may hurt a bit, ok? But really, it can't hurt as much as the door did sooo…" and administers the shot. The bunny still lays there barely breathing.

"WHY AREN'T YOU BREATHING?" Rachel begins to panic and thinks back to what Quinn said. She grabs the bunny and runs to the counter where the medicine boxes are sitting. She grabs a box while cradling the bunny in her arms.

"Mix powder with water in boiling pot and cook it for 5 minutes until warm. Feed to animal in a bottle."

What Rachel does next is not one of her proudest moments. Demon is still having problems breathing so Rachel mixes up the rabbit medicine and puts it on the stove in a boiling pot of water like the instructions told her to do. She grabs a spoon and started mixing while mentally preparing herself for what is about to happen.

Rachel sets the heat on low and grabs the muzzle of the rabbit. She then proceeds to try to help its breathing by doing some form of mouth to mouth resuscitation.

It just so happens that that is whenever Mercedes walks into the room.

"Rachel? What the hell are you doing?"

"Demon. He's not breathing right. And Quinn. And meds. And the door. And my foot. And I shot him. And I am making a bottle. And he's in trouble!" Rachel picks up the rabbit and holds it in front of Mercedes. "FIX HIM."

Mercedes holds the little bundle and listens for a heartbeat. Or maybe she is just feeling the fur next to her ear. Rachel doesn't know a thing about keeping animals alive. She just knows her hamster, Wendla, died of child birth when she was two.

"He has a heart beat which is good. Keep stirring that medicine. Don't let it burn. You said you shot him? I am assuming you meant with a syringe?"

Rachel nods as she looks down at the mixture she is brewing. She concentrates hard on getting this part right. Nothing else seems to be turning out ok.

"Where did you inject it?"

"In its rear."

Mercedes smiles and mumbles something along the lines of "good, good" under her breath. "How long has that been on the burner?"

Rachel thinks back, "CRAP! It's been 6 minutes! We need to make a new brew! Hurry! Grab me some medicine!"

Mercedes shakes her head at the panicking diva and walks toward the cabinet. A moment later she returns with a bottle. "One minute extra doesn't hurt anything right now. Pour it into the bottle."

Rachel does as she is told and hands the bottle to Mercedes who proceeds to feed the bunny.

"It just has problems with its nervous system. Did Q call Trevor?"

Rachel nods, "If that is the doctor than yes."

"Alrighty then. Well good."

Rachel nods quickly and remembers something else Quinn told her to do. "OH! Mercedes. Quinn asked you to give me her cell so I can update her on the Demon."

Mercedes looks slightly surprised but hides it well and says Quinn's number to Rachel. Whenever she is finished Rachel quickly types out a text to Quinn and waits for an answer. They then hear a knock on the door. With that Mercedes gives Rachel the beast, much to Rachel's dismay. She notices the bottle is almost empty and the creature is starting to stir in her arms.

"Uhh… Mercedes?"

Rachel listens to Mercedes talk to the deep voice at the door and welcome it in. The next thing Rachel sees is the most beautiful man she has ever witnessed. He has quite a nice set of "guns" if she were to quote Noah. _Why is he wearing a sleeveless shirt in 40 degree weather? Who does he think he is, Taylor Lautner?_ His mint green eyes find Rachel and he smiles a perfect smile in her direction. His dark mahogany hair is long enough to flop into his eyes a bit but not enough to make him look unkempt or feminine. Rachel scans his 5 foot 11 inch figure before she can stop herself. Nope! Definitely not feminine. His smile turns crooked as soon as he notices her eyes moving. _Busted_.

"Sorry. I don't normally pay visits in outfits like this. It's just Quinn called and I heard about Bunbun and he's kind of my responsibility…" Trevor says while rubbing the back of his head. God, does his muscles always flex so much?

"Wait, what?" She is trying to pay attention. Honestly.

The Demon in her arms suddenly wakes up and looks up at her, happy as a clam. Like seriously. _What is this thing's problem?_

"Well, I work at the vet clinic down on 5th avenue. Bunbun here was found on the streets."

"You're kidding. This is New York. Who has bunnies hopping around New York?"

He shrugs and his eyes twinkle with laughter. "Besides Quinn?" He shakes his head. "But yeah. We found him and we still don't exactly know what is wrong with him. We are playing around with his medication now. Quinn came into the clinic looking for a puppy and fell in love with this creature hearing his story. I told her the guidelines for his care and that his chances of living are pretty slim since he was basically used as a lab experiment by his last owners. She just nodded and accepted the fluff ball with open arms. The meds seem to be working though." Trevor then gestures to the Demon. "May I?"Rachel gives him to Trevor and watches as he inspects every inch of the Demon.

"The shot that you were given was to calm him down so that you could feed him his medicine. Without the medicine he goes all psycho on you, but with the medicine he is the sweetest and gentlest animal I have every witnessed. Very loving."

Trevor hands Bunbun back to Rachel and she accepts him with a slight grimace. "He seems perfectly alright." He continues. "You are lucky you got here in time before he could do any harm to himself or others. He did bump his noggin on something pretty hard though."

"OH. He was like that when I got here."

Trevor raises an eyebrow at Rachel. "I didn't say he wasn't."

"Thanks for checking up on him. Quinn will feel much better now knowing that De—Bunbun is alright."

Trevor smiles and turns to Mercedes. "Can I talk to you for a moment outside?" Mercedes nods and walks out the door. Trevor turns to Rachel with a friendly smile and says, "It was nice to meet you. I hope we see each other again. Quinn has told me a lot about you.", before he follows Mercedes out the door.

Demon stirs in her arms. She can practically see the animal smile up at her. Others would think that it is a cute and happy smile. Rachel has her doubts. She puts the bunny on the floor and texts Quinn with the update from Trevor. She will have to bug her about who he is later.

She then collapses on the couch waiting for Mercedes to get back. Rachel is about to relax on the arm of the couch when out of nowhere Bunbun apparates there. "WHAT THE! HOW DID YOU GET THERE?" Rachel quickly backs to the other end of the couch and sends Quinn another text. Maybe she will come home sooner if she knows that her bunny is stalking her.

Rachel then gets up to exit the room with the crazy bunny and walks toward the counter. It is then that she notices the bunny following her. She makes a break for Quinn's room and slams the door. A minute passes without any movement outside. She must be safe then. She sits on Quinn's bed about to relax when she hears something scratching against the door. Something that isn't human.

Rachel gasps and throws Lambchop at the door hoping to scare Bunbun away and texts Quinn in her fear. The scratching stops instantly. Rachel then lays on the bed and stares at the ceiling in thought. _A little music would be nice. Or the internet_. She needs SOMETHING to do with her time while everyone is gone. She glances at Quinn's desk and notices the absence of her laptop. Rachel thinks back and remembers a laptop sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Of course Quinn wouldn't put her laptop away. Seriously?

Well the bunny hasn't been scratching so she decides it must be safe to exit the room to get the laptop and run back. There will be no harm done and the Demon will not even know she left. Rachel sends a quick text to Quinn letting her know that she might die soon and turns the knob of the door.

So far, so good. No fluffy animals are found in the hallway. Rachel then peeks around the corner and decides to run, grab the laptop, and return.

Victory has never been sweeter.

She sets the laptop down on the bed and hears a noise that she assumes is coming from the other room. The Demon must be following Mercedes around now. Well good luck with that Mercedes. She sends another quick text to the blonde questioning her sanity in keeping the fluff ball around.

About two minutes pass and Rachel is caught up in the chorus of "Firework" whenever she feels something moving in the bed. Rachel peeks over the top of the laptop in her lap and screams.

..

She jumps up from the bed and runs to the corner of the room and sends Quinn an angry text before looking at the Demon.

"Neither can live while the other survives, Bunbun. And I am the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord."

The Demon twitches his nose in response and flops down on the bed, rolling over throwing his feet into the air.

He was playing dead.

Rachel begins to laugh and approaches the bunny deep in thought. Maybe it isn't so bad after all?

She returns to her seat on the bed and begins to pet its tummy. Its leg starts twitching like a dog's does whenever you hit that perfect spot.

"You know, you're not so bad after all." Rachel smiles down at the Demon. She then begins to text out an apology for her last text. It was rather rude of her to say all of those things after all.

Bunbun sits on her lap and watches the screen as she scrolls through Tumblr while singing "Four Walls" by Miley Cyrus. She decides to look through her texts and re-read them thinking of how Quinn will react to them all. She smiles at the thought of Quinn. _OH NO!_ She typed something incorrectly. Well that won't do. She types a correction quickly and sends it. She then looks down at the sleeping animal in her lap. It starts to snuggle closer and she smiles.

"You miss her don't you?" The bunny looks up at her and she could swear it nodded before it set its head down on its paws. She returns to stroking it.

Ten minutes later she spoke to the animal again. "You want to know a secret?"

The bunny rolls onto its back and silently asks for her to rub its belly.

"I miss her too."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I do not own Glee.**

**So I was going to space these out… but I decided to just post them as I work on them. I'm editing up to chapter 14 I think, but I still have a lot more to write… so after that there might be a hiatus as I write more. We'll see. Either way, thanks for reading :)**

Quinn's manager lets her out of work a little earlier than usual due to the "outstanding job in getting the boss to like her". It was also mentioned to her that there was a very high possibility that she had just scored a huge raise of three more dollars an hour.

Quinn smiles at her luck and looks out the window as she rode in the cab home. She figures she can splurge a bit of money on a ride after the night she has had. First Jo, then the "inspector". Her smile begins to fade at the new onslaught of thoughts. Maybe she should look into his background information, he probably isn't even legit. And how can she say no to Jo without giving her a chance? Well she will just have to figure that out on the spot if Jo ever gets the courage to ask. Quinn crosses her fingers that she wouldn't. She doesn't need more dating issues, especially if Rachel will be frequenting her apartment. Rachel. Now she is another issue all on her own.

Quinn lays her head against the cool window and looks at the time on her phone. 11:30pm. She smiles as she begins to scroll through her texts. Apparently Rachel is going to sleep with her again tonight since she threatened her with the couch. The warm feeling Quinn gets whenever she thinks about their night together makes her a little uneasy.

"_Thank you." Rachel said to Quinn as she turns her body to face toward Quinn._

"_For what?" Quinn asks the ceiling._

"_For taking care of me and letting me sleep here."_

"_Yeah, well. That's what friends do, right?"_

"_Right." Rachel says to the blonde as she begins to drift peacefully into sleep. Quinn turns her head to look at Rachel one last time before she does the same._

_About an hour later Quinn wakes abruptly fumbling around the bed looking for Bunbun. She has just had a nightmare that he and Rachel had been trampled by a crazed herd of tauros. It was like her own personal Lion King/Pokemon related hell. She begins searching under the covers for Bunbun and stares up at the ceiling in fear whenever she feels skin instead of fluff. She feels the skin again, not feeling the affect of her own hand on her leg. Is she paralyzed at the waist? She looks under the covers and down at her hand and freezes. Her hand is not on her own leg._

_The leg is tan. The leg is flawless. The leg is Rachel's._

_She instantly moves her hand as if the tan legs will burn her and scoots to her side of the bed a little more. Since when does Rachel not put on her pants to sleep? Quinn peers over the side of the bed for the sweatpants that Rachel must have taken off in the middle of the night._

_No pants were found. That is whenever Quinn feels cloth by her feet. _

_Rachel removes her clothing in her sleep._

_What._

_Quinn sits dumbfounded, all thoughts of stampeding tauros out of her mind. What should she do? Should she just let the pants lay there? What would Rachel think the next morning when she awakes to find no pants? Should she try and fumble around on the bed to try to put Rachel's pants back on? Could she even trust herself with that? What if she woke up and thought that Quinn is trying to take her pants off to fool around with her in her sleep? Oh God._

_Quinn peeks under the covers to find where the pants are. After shamefully being distracted by the beauty next to her she finds that the pants in question are still around Rachel's ankles. So all she will have to do is pull them up, right?_

_Quinn reaches down in the bed to try and pull the pants up Rachel's legs. Oh God. Rachel's legs. They're so tan. So smooth. So perfect. _

_PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER FABRAY._

_The real problem occurs whenever she gets to Rachel's knees. Thankfully her head is not under the covers anymore. She trains her eyes to Rachel's eyelids praying that they won't open as she tries to shimmy the pants up the sleeping girl's legs. When she is about halfway up her calves Rachel turns in her sleep and smacks Quinn in the face with her glorious melons. Well, they aren't really like melons. She hates it when guys call them melons. They are much better than melons. They are soft and bouncy and…_

_Her face is in Rachel's boobs._

_What._

_Just._

_Happened._

_About 20 minutes later Quinn wakes up to her face still in the previous position, internally kicking herself for fainting from the sudden contact. She then closes her eyes tight and focuses on the mission. _

_The main problem is as Rachel next turns to roll over; she also catches Quinn in a death trap of a hug. Movement is now barely possible._

_Well great._

_Not that she minds._

_Really. This should happen every night._

_But still, Rachel's pride is on the line and she will not be the one to make Rachel upset if she can avoid it. She mentally prepares for what she is about to do and nuzzles herself further into the brunette's bosom in order to reach further down and successfully pull Rachel's pants up to her waist._

_SUCCESS!_

_Moving herself back up to her original position, she tries to get out of Rachel's grip in fear of having Rachel wake up and reject her in the morning. She will need to take baby steps, and baby steps start with the "friends first" concept. If Rachel were to wake up to Quinn snuggling into her chest Quinn will probably scare her away by accident._

_She doesn't want that._

_She carefully pries the brunette's tiny hands apart and rolls out of her grip instantly missing the warmth of another body. The warmth of Rachel. _

_It is then that Rachel begins to whimper._

_Oh God, that whimper. It breaks Quinn's heart to hear it. She leans toward Rachel and strokes her hair trying to calm the sleeping girl down. She must be having a nightmare. Rachel reaches out and grabs Quinn again, pulling her into the position that she first was in. The tiny girl's heart is racing but Quinn can hear it begin to slow as soon as she is near._

_Quinn wraps her arms around the girl and gives in to her senses. She is tired and she has work in the morning, but Rachel is here, the young starlet that she hated to love in high school. Quinn had hated everything about her. Rachel could get out. Rachel had the talent. Rachel was going after the wrong person. Rachel. _

_Quinn hugs the girl closer letting a few tears loose as she remembers all of the torment she put the girl through and all of the nights Quinn had hated herself for it. All of the nights with her father telling her that she would be kicked out of the house if she were to even smile at the girl. After all, Rachel was raised by "devil worshipers" and Quinn didn't want to fall victim to their evil ways, right? She was a young impressionable kid back then. He shaped her to become the monster that she was in high school. And yet, it is her fault for listening. For being the perfect little Daddy's girl that she was trained to be._

_There is so much baggage that Quinn has been carrying around from as far back as elementary school. Rachel doesn't need to deal with all of that. Rachel needs to achieve her dream. Quinn can't allow herself to hold the girl back. She can't get attached now. No. But as she drowns in the whirlpool of her own thoughts the brunette sighs contentedly and hugs her closer. Quinn breathes in the pure smell of Rachel and can't help but feel as relaxed as she had the day she first met her. Like a star was watching over her. Like she was finally home. Safe._

_Maybe sleeping next to Rachel for one night will be ok. Maybe it will be alright. Maybe she won't hurt the girl. Maybe she can make it up to her. Maybe this is what both of them need. Maybe Rachel can like her back._

_Maybe Rachel can love her too._

_Maybe._

Quinn obviously was out of her mind that night. Quinn reads through the texts again smiling at the pure Rachel Berry-ness of every single one of them.

Except the last one. She pauses and reads it over and over, never really registering the words fully. The "I miss you -*" stared at her mockingly. What does that even mean? Was Rachel bored and just sending a text just to send it? She didn't send any more after that one either. She must have gotten busy after that. Well Rachel isn't really there to visit her anyway. She is there for everyone else but her.

It has never been her.

The thought makes Quinn's heart squeeze as she pays the taxi driver and looks up at her home. Her home radiates happiness more than it used to. Rachel is just a beacon like that. She is about to dig into her pocket for her keys whenever she notices that she had given the keys to Rachel in a hurry to save Bunbun..

Well crap. Who should she wake up? That's whenever she notices her phone light up in her hand.

**Girl, we need to talk soon. We have much that needs to be discussed. I know you'll be here in like an hour so I left your keys taped under the mat out front. Cliché I know, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to put it. By the way, Rachel is in your room. She told us that you asked her to stay so we let her stay. I don't want to come home to the sound of either of you screaming if you know what I mean. :P **

It is here that Quinn chokes. When did Mercedes find out that Quinn has a huge crush on Rachel? She likes to think that she hides that aspect of her life fairly well. After all, she has been perfecting it since elementary school.

**I would not want to clean up that mess. Blood red clearly would not look good on my lime green towels! LOL. But yeah. Kurt, Henry, Trev, and I went out to the bar down the road. Blaine went back to his campus to get some work done. Talk to you tomorrow, Sis. –M 11:05pm**

Quinn grimaces at the thought of explaining Rachel to Mercedes. The diva would be as understanding as possible, but the initial shock that she would endure would probably cause Quinn's eardrums to pop. Mercedes tends to scream whenever she hears any news that is out of the ordinary.

Quinn later opens the door at the top of the stairs to find the apartment black and devoid of life. She wonders at the silence and peeks into the living room area expecting to see a comical version of Rachel Berry under a lighted lamp like a parent ready to scold their child when they get home after curfew. Sadly she isn't there. Deciding that the best course of action is to brush her teeth she goes into the bathroom to prepare herself for slumber. The fact that Rachel's new toothbrush is in the holder right next to Quinn's does not go unnoticed.

Quinn walks around the house still brushing her teeth looking for Rachel. Assuming that she must have inhabited her room, the blonde finishes brushing her teeth and sneaks over to her room to open the door quietly.

Inside her room she finds the most adorable scene she has ever laid eyes on. Rachel is curled into the fetal position cuddling a content Bunbun while Adele plays on Quinn's laptop in the background. Rachel's mouth is slightly open and the blonde can hear her snoring gently. Quinn smiles at the scene and giggles internally at the fact that Rachel's pants are slightly askew already.

Deciding that she shouldn't try to crawl into bed with the two of her most prized confidants, she begins to change into her for her night on the couch. Tomorrow is her free day anyway so she won't need a good night's sleep to function. After changing she pulls a blanket out of the top of her closet and lays it gently on Rachel while singing along to the song currently playing.

"I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited  
>but I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.<br>I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded  
>that for me it isn't over."<p>

She begins to run her hand through Rachel's hair and Rachel smiles in her sleep as Quinn forms a small smile in return.

"Never mind  
>I'll find someone like you.<br>I wish nothing but the best for you, too.  
>Don't forget me.,' I begged<br>'I'll remember.,' you said  
>'Sometimes it lasts in love<br>But sometimes it hurts instead.'"

Quinn walks to the door and turns off the light. As she walks to the couch she keeps singing the song to herself.

"Nothing compares,  
>no worries or cares.<br>Regrets and mistakes  
>they are memories made.<br>Who would have known  
>how bittersweet this would taste?"<p>

And with that she turns the light off in the living room and curls into a ball on the couch waiting for sleep to come, ignoring the lyrics swirling in her mind.

* * *

><p>Rachel wipes a little bit of drool off of her face as she glances at Quinn's clock. It says 1am. "Well, that can't be right" she thinks aloud as she sets Bunbun down on the floor and tears off the blanket. "Where is Quinn?" Rachel looks down at her new companion as he looks up at her. Obviously he doesn't know either.<p>

Rachel quickly adjusts her appearance to look presentable in the mirror on the back of Quinn's door and walks into the living room. It is there that she finds the blonde sleeping on the couch. She goes over to the side of the couch and crouches down to be at the same level as Quinn's eyes.

She looks so serene. Beautiful. Should she wake the girl up? Rachel brushes Quinn's hair out of the way so she can see the smooth face of the woman in front of her. She is flawless. Rachel had disliked that face so much in high school, but not for the reasons most people would think. She just couldn't figure it out. She could figure out Finn. She could figure out Puck. And Kurt. And Mercedes. She could figure out just about everyone.

But this elusive face, the one before her, was a fortitude. It has never shown what is hidden within. It has always had the same expression, regardless of the event. It was a rarity that the expression would be contorted into anything besides sweet indifference. Quinn smiled as she sang. That Rachel remembered. And she would give a broken expression when she sang sometimes too. It was like songs bring it out of her. The songs allow for Quinn to feel. That's something Rachel can relate to. Why hadn't she seen it?

Rachel hesitates wanting to touch the porcelain features. They look so soft. And warm. Something others would never have thought of Quinn Fabray. Maybe there is a time that she had seen the warmth, but that was a long time ago. That time is lost now.

But now Quinn seems to be like how she was back then. Like the first day they met.

"_Now Rachel, we will be here after school. There is no reason to cry, little star."_

"_Elijah, are you sure we should leave her here like this?"_

"_Will you relax, love? It is the first day of school. What did you expect? Sunshine and rainbows? She does this every time we drop her off at the babysitter's too."_

"_But that's because that latina picks on her. I honestly think that child is pressed."_

"_KEVIN! They are kids. Don't go judging kids yet."_

"_Are you saying our little star is not desirable by both sexes?"_

"_No. I'm not. I'm just saying…"_

"_Hello."_

_The two men look down at a little blonde striding over to their family._

"_I am Quinn Fabray. I know all of my letters already. Do you need help with your letters?"_

_Rachel nods her head from behind Elijah's leg._

"_I can help you. What's your name?"_

"_Rachel. Rachel Berry." Rachel then looks up at her Dads silently asking them for help from this new terror. Will they come with her?_

"_I like your shirt. What is that on it?"_

"_It's a star."_

"_It's kind of like you."_

"_Santana said that too. She said it's stupid like me."_

"_No. It shines, like your eyes. I found things that look like that over there. One of them has my name on it! You want to see it? Maybe there is one for you too!"_

_And with that Quinn takes her by the hand and drags her into the room. Rachel forgets about her fears of a new class. She never notices her parents leave and say good-bye. She doesn't even notice the harsh words that are thrown her way. Not with Quinn around. With Quinn's hand in hers she is safe. She is home. _

_A month later, Quinn is taken out of her class and placed into a new one. _

"Rachel? What are you doing here?" Quinn asks her with a voice heavy of sleep.

"I could ask you the same question."

Quinn looks confused. The expression is so endearing Rachel can't help but smile. "Huh? I'm sleeping, obviously." The blonde begins to rub her eyes. "Or I was. What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"Why did you leave me?"

Quinn's confused expression only deepens. "I had work?"

"No. In Elementary school. Do you remember?"

"What's going on? What are you talking about?"

"Forget it." Rachel stands up and looks down at Quinn. "Come to bed, please?" _It's lonely without you_.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. Come on. It's your bed."

Quinn rolls off of the couch and grabs Rachel's hand before she gets too far away.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"I know that look, little one. What is wrong?"

Rachel looks down at their hands and feels the warmth. She holds onto the contact taking in the safety of it. Why did things screw up so much back then?

Quinn notices her looking down at their hands and instantly lets it go looking away. "You don't have to tell me. It's fine. I understand. Let's just go to sleep." She walks past Rachel and into the room.

Whenever Rachel walks into the room she notices Quinn lying with her back against the wall waiting for her on the bed. Rachel turns off the light and climbs into the covers next to her, rolling to face the other direction.

She hears Quinn make a huffing noise before pulling Rachel backwards into the blonde's arms.

"There is no reason for you to perch on the side of the bed. By now you know I don't bite." Quinn begins to lift her arms and makes shuffling movements as if she were about to move away from Rachel again.

"You can stay where you are you know."

"Huh?"

Rachel is silent for a little while as Quinn stays still.

"You can keep your arms around me. You know, if you are more comfortable that way or something. I'm ok with it."

With that Quinn tightens her arms slightly around the brunette for a moment before nuzzling her head into the crook between her shoulders.

"Thank you." The blonde mumbles into Rachel's shirt. "I'm here you know. I'm not going anywhere again. I'm staying."

"Again?" Rachel asks the darkness. There is only quiet breathing as an answer. Quinn has fallen asleep. Rachel begins to fall asleep to the heartbeat behind her, taking comfort in the arms wrapped around her rather than thinking about the very real possibility of her sleeping alone at school the next night.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I do not own Glee**

Quinn awakes with a jolt as she hears the sound of screaming. Accompanying that is a simultaneous bang of something hitting wood and then the scurry of little feet on the floor of her room. She turns to Rachel instantly trying to calm her down without hurting herself in the process, which there is a high probability of since the girl is flailing around on the bed in a panic.

"Shhhh. You're fine. I'm here. You're fine." She says groggily.

Rachel has tears in her eyes and she keeps shaking her head at every word Quinn tries to calm her down with. "No. No. You were gone. You left. You were gone."

"I obviously am here, little one. Relax. I'm here." In her grogginess Quinn forgets the boundaries she is creating and pulls Rachel into her lap. She then kisses her forehead while rocking her back and forth. "You're fine. I'm not going anywhere. It was just a dream."

Rachel hugs Quinn closer and looks up at her. "No. It wasn't."

"Uhm. Yeah. Look, you're in your pjs and everything." Quinn looks down to gesture to Rachel's clothing and notices that she is without pants again and blushes while grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around her. "Well mostly in your pjs."

Rachel mumbles "I get hot during the night."

Quinn smiles and mumbles her response "mhmm. Whatever you say." Before laying her cheek on top of Rachel's head planning on sleeping more.

"It's true!" Rachel suddenly jerks her head to look up at Quinn, effectively head-punching her in the jaw. "I'm so sorry!"

Quinn holds onto Rachel with one arm while massaging the pain in her jaw with her other hand. "It's fine." Rachel looks down sadly and hugs her tighter as they fall silent. It is clear to Quinn after a while that Rachel is not forgetting about the nightmare she had just experienced.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. But I do want to talk about something else."

"Alright. Shoot."

"Why did you change classes in elementary school? What happened there? Why did you leave me? I thought we were… well we could be…"

"Is this your big question for the day or is there another one you would like to discuss first?"

Rachel sits in Quinn's lap silently, probably judging which of her many questions to ask the blonde.

"Can I have more than one?"

"Seriously?" Quinn looks down at the girl and raises her eyebrow. "You're lucky you even get one at all and now you're trying to get more?" She smirks.

"Well. I don't know. Maybe? Yes. Yes I am."

"One question a day. You always have tomorrow."

"But what if you give me more questions than answers?"

Quinn shrugs while she thinks about the question the brunette posed. "I guess I'll decide then if I want to answer more questions. The rule still stands though. One question a day."

Rachel begins to form a pout with her mouth in contemplation of her next move. "Should I just come out with the question?"

"Coming out would probably be more comfortable for you, yes." Quinn says with a wink.

"Wha… what?" Rachel stammers. Quinn just laughs.

"Nothing. I was kidding. It would probably be easier just to ask directly, yes."

Rachel then gets out of Quinn's lap and sits criss-crossed in front of her with an intense expression glued to her face. Her eyes are bouncing back and forth between Quinn's own obviously trying to read her before she makes a decision.

"And you're sure you're ok with me doing this."

Quinn shrugs suddenly not so sure of anything. "As long as you let me ask you one as well."

Rachel nods curtly and begins to start examining her own fingers. "Are we friends now?"

Quinn takes a second registering that question. _Is she serious?_ "What do you mean?"

Rachel shifts clearly uncomfortable with the situation and looks over at the wall while she answers "Are we friends? I really don't know how to explain this question any more thoroughly than I already have, Quinn. Are we friends or not?"

"Well, Yeah. I mean, if you want to be. I thought we were. I mean, I haven't given anyone else this type of opportunity."

"Oh." She pauses for a moment. "I feel like I wasted my question."

"You didn't. That one wasn't really all that serious. If you want to ask another I wouldn't object to it." Quinn smiles at the look on the little woman's face. She seems so genuinely pleased. The smile that stretches across Rachel's face makes her look like she has just won her first Emmy. Quinn fights the urge to take Rachel in her arms again for being so darn endearing.

"Alright. Well then. Give me a moment to think of another one." Rachel says making a serious face as she repeatedly presses her finger to her lips in thought. "Do you have a pen and paper?"

Quinn looks at her quizzically and grabs a pen and paper out of her desk nearby and gives it to Rachel. Rachel immediately starts tapping her pen against the paper.

After about a minute of that Quinn is getting tired of waiting around for Rachel's question. She gets off the bed, about to go brush her teeth, when she notices Bunbun lying on the floor by the door. He must have had a rough night if he's still sleeping.

Quinn then picks Bunbun up, walks to the bathroom and begins bushing her teeth. While still brushing, she dropps Bunbun off at the couch and makes the rest of his medicine. Once she finishes both brushing her teeth and feeding Bunbun his medicine and breakfast she decides to check in on Rachel's progress.

Rachel is still sitting on Quinn's bed, but now she is actually writing on the paper rather than just tapping it. "Rach, why don't you get ready for the day?"

"Mmmm? Did you say something?"

Quinn shakes her head and smiles "Rachel Berry. Brush your teeth at least. You might want to shower too. I'll be taking one soon so you can hop in before me."

Rachel nods her head obviously distracted by her writing. From the looks of how things are moving today, they would all be relaxing in the house rather than enjoying the city. She smiles at the thought of videogames with her friends, but frowns when she hears the ringtone coming from her cell on the dresser.

"The lights are out and I barely know you.  
>We're going up and the place is slowing down.<br>I knew you'd come around."

Quinn stares at her phone and slowly walks toward it.

"You captivate me, something about you has got me.  
>I was lonely now you make me feel alive.<br>Will you be mine tonight?"

The blonde grimaces when she sees a picture of her and Abby. They are sporting their goofy smiles from that first night at the party.

Abby is not going to be wearing that smile whenever she answers the phone.

"Take me on the floor (dadada da dadadada)  
>I can't take it any more (dadada da dadadada)<br>I want you, I want you, I want you to show me love—"

Quinn opens the phone and sighs in preparation for the onslaught of anger and worry from one of her closest friends.

"Hey, Abby."

* * *

><p>Quinn is saying something to her about a shower. Rachel knows it. But really, she has gotten so far in her list of questions that she just wants to write more. She can probably placate the blonde with some kind of acknowledgement. Rachel nods her head as she keeps writing.<p>

Why did you go to college in New York?

What happened with your parents?

Why did you give Beth to Shelby?

Have you communicated with either of them?

Who is Abby?

What is going on with the Demon?

Who's Trevor?

Who's Henry?

Why did you leave me so long ago?

"The lights are out and I barely know you.  
>We're going up and the place is slowing down.<br>I knew you'd come around."

Quinn's phone starts ringing and Rachel falls out of her writing trance.

"You captivate me, something about you has got me.  
>I was lonely now you make me feel alive.<br>Will you be mine tonight?"

Rachel smiles when she notices the song that is used as Quinn's ringtone, although she vaguely remembers it being something different when a telemarketer called Quinn earlier that weekend. It must be someone important for them to have a specified ringtone.

"Take me on the floor (dadada da dadadada)  
>I can't take it any more (dadada da dadadada)<br>I want you, I want you, I want you to show me love—"

Rachel frowns at the rest of the lyrics that would normally make her giggle hearing them on Quinn's phone. Is it a love interest she doesn't know about?

"Hey Abby?"

Quinn sounds upset. Rachel decides she should return to her list rather than snooping on a conversation she might not even want to hear.

Who's Abby?

Do you know what happened to everyone else in Glee?

How is Finn?

"Yelling in my ear is not the answer to any of our problems, Abs. I apologi—look. I'm sorry. Will you just—WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME AND STOP CUTTING ME OFF PLEASE?"

Rachel keeps staring down at her paper. Concentrate. Concentrate.

Who's Abby?

Why did you leave me so long ago?

What would have happened if you didn't?

"Abigail. Really. There is no reason to be that upset with me. I didn't want to wake you up. Is that such a bad thing? Ok yeah, I forgot to call. No a text isn't that hard to do." Quinn rubs the bridge of her nose. She must be getting a headache.

"I just had a long night. I apologize for forgetting, but that can't be helped right now. I mean really. It's in the past. Bunbun is ok though, so I don't see the prob— Well I will call you if this ever happens again. No. I will try to make it up to you another night. Well obviously one date won't make up for having you worry all night. Can you just listen to me?"

Rachel begins to write again.

WHO THE FRICK IS ABBY? LIKE REALLY. I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS IS. WHO IS SHE? HOW DID YOU MEET HER? WHY DOES SHE MATTER SO MUCH? HOW DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT BUNBUN? BUNBUN IS MY FRIEND. NOT HERS. AND WHY DID YOU KISS HER THE OTHER DAY?

"I don't know what I can do to make it up to you but I will try. Will you just—I _do_ tell you things. Well no, I didn't tell you about her but—"

FOR THAT MATTER, why did you kiss me this morning? Your friendship means so much to me. Why is that? Why did I suddenly feel warm and protected when in your arms? Why is all of this happening? I mean really. It has only been since Friday and I don't know how we got so close. It's like it all was meant to happen. It's so natural. Why am I even overanalyzing this?

"Look, leave her out of this. DO NOT CALL HER THAT. Her name is Rachel Berry. You met her already you do NOT need to meet her again. And you will NEVER go near her if you keep this up. She is a friend of mine and I will NOT let you be jealous of her or talk about her that way."

AND WHO THE FRICK IS ABBY?

Why did you leave?

Why are you staying now?

Why are you trying so hard to be friends with me now?

Why are you letting me ask you questions?

"Stop acting so crazy. No, I'm not calling you mental. This is ridiculous. Why are you so jealous of her. YES. YOU. ARE." Quinn frowns.

Why do I like you so much?

Rachel stares at the last question and just becomes even more confused. She decides to cross that one out and continue.

Why do I like you so much?

Who is Abby?

Quinn holds the phone away from her head while a voice yells out at her.

"I finally broke her." Quinn smiles sadly at Rachel.

"Should I go?"

The phone gets silent. Quinn shakes her head no and moves the phone back to her ear. "Are you done? Yes she is here. Don't be like that. Yeah she spent the night. She's just a—"

Quinn looks at Rachel sadly "She hung up on me."

"Is there anything I can do?"

Quinn bites her lip and looks into Rachel's eyes. She feels naked all of the sudden. Quinn can see everything can't she? Rachel looks down and away from those piercing hazel eyes.

"You could go on a double date with me."

"wh…why me?"

Quinn looks at the pictures on the wall and stops on the one of Rachel and her giggling during the Glee circle time.

"She thinks I like you and she is getting jealous."

_Do you like me?_ "Does she think like that with all of your dates?"

Quinn stills and glances over at Rachel before returning to the pictures "No. Just you. Not that you and I are dating…" Quinn then shuffles around to her dresser and gets some comfortable clothing out. "I'm going to go shower now. If you think about what you want to eat I can make you something. The rest of the house might be awake now too. You can ask them. Check the fridge for some fruit. I can make pancakes or something, if you want." And with that Quinn leaves the room.

Rachel looks down at her list. "But why is Abby jealous of me? Who is this girl?" _and what can I do to make Quinn happy again?_


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I do not own Glee**

Quinn lets the water of the shower fall in cascades around her, the hot liquid beating down on her face and running through her hair. She has to relax and think of what the hell she is going to do next. She had another date with Henry at some point, but she still hasn't gotten a phone call from him to figure out when that would be. Abigail is upset with her for being around a friend, which is absolutely ridiculous considering the fact that Rachel Berry is straight and Quinn Fabray is no one's property. How has their relationship even progress to ownership anyway? And why is she trying so hard to make Abigail happy? Well, besides the fact that Quinn really likes this one. She's a great girl. Abigail has a heart of gold, even if she is rather possessive. But that possessiveness makes Quinn feel safe. She can't get into any trouble with Abby around to protect her. They work so well off of each other. They are always in sync, kind of absolutely perfect for each other.

Quinn groans when she hears a knock on the door. She could swear Mercedes has a bladder the size of a walnut sometimes.

"Quinn? Are you ok? Are you in the shower yet? Can I brush my teeth?"

Quinn smiles instantly due to the voice on the other side of the door but then grimaces as she begins to think about that issue too. Rachel Berry is another problem entirely. There are so many things that go with their relationship as well. But that shouldn't be an issue because Rachel is insanely and completely straight.

"I'm alright. Come on in."

Quinn hears the door open and blushes when she thinks about the state of undress she is currently in. She looks at the billowing white shower curtain to her side. Oh god, what if there is a silhouette of her? She should be doing showerly things. _What do people do in the shower, again? Oh yes. They clean themselves._ Quinn grabs her shampoo and starts doing just that.

There is a brushing noise heard faintly in the background and then a bang.

"Are you ok, Berry?"

"Uhm, yeah. I uhm. I hit the door with my head. It's nothing.

Quinn laughs. "How in the world did you accomplish that?"

"I uh. I don't know. It came out of nowhere."

"Do you still have a toothbrush in your mouth? It sounds like you do. Why are you even near the door?" Quinn tries to calm her laughter to hear Rachel's response. She is acting really odd. _Is she normally this klutzy? Well only when she's_—

There is a mumbling noise coming from somewhere around the bathroom, probably in response to her question.

"I'm sorry? Did you answer? I thought I heard mumbling."

"I was just a little distracted, Quinn. Why are you so adamant at finding out why I hit the door? Doors move. They come out of nowhere. Maybe your Demon knocked it open and hit me in the face! Did you ever think of that? It's not like I'm distracted by you being here or anything. Goodness Quinn! Why are you ganging up on me?"

"Uhm. Rachel. I never said any of that."

There is silence and Quinn hears a faint brushing noise in the background. Rachel has continued her brushing.

"Sorry Rach. I didn't mean to insinuate anything. I was just curious." Saying sorry tends to be a safe reaction in any situation.

Rachel just continues brushing only she goes faster. Quinn rolls her eyes as she continues to wash herself.

"Do I still get a question?"

Quinn inhales some of the water she is using to wash her face off and starts coughing. Of course Rachel would catch her off-guard at the most inopportune moment. She tries to cough out an answer but it just isn't coming out.

"Are you ok?" a concerned voice comes from behind the curtain. More coughs just keep coming. _Seriously, how much water did I inhale?_

It was then that hell ensued.

Rachel, presumably in her fear for Quinn's breathing, rushes to the curtain but trips over the mat by the shower. Hoping to save herself from getting hurt, her instincts cause her to grab at the curtain that Quinn is behind. The curtain then rips halfway through its hooks as it goes down with the tumbling Rachel.

Quinn stands in shock for a moment, her coughs becoming tamer as time progresses. Rachel, in her shock, stares straight into Quinn's eyes looking like she is about to urinate everywhere. Quinn can't help it. She laughs.

Sure, she should have been embarrassed. And she is. She is curling half of a shower curtain around her body for goodness sake. But really? Has anyone else ever seen Rachel Berry look like that before? The brunette's legs are making a starfish pattern as she sits on the floor mouth agape. The girl looks like a five year old gawking at some iconic person in front of her. Quinn just lost it.

"I, I, I" Rachel says as her mouth bobs up and down hoping to formulate some sort of words. This just makes Quinn laugh more, her voice getting hoarser. Realizing that it probably isn't the best thing to keep the shower on she turns the water off and goes to get her towel before surveying the water damage.

"Uhm, Rachel. I kinda need a towel and you're kind of in my way and stuff."

Rachel just keeps gawking at her. Well this is interesting. Should she take the curtain all the way off its hooks? Or should she just flash across the bathroom to the counter to retrieve the towel?

Quinn looks at brunette again. Rachel's attention is trained on Quinn's eyes, trying to read her reaction. The blonde smiles.

"Really, Berry. I kind of need my towel so I can put this back up and continue my shower. I mean, I still have shampoo in my hair and everything."

Rachel's last name seems to trigger a weird response out of her. She closes off. She no longer sits like a little kid, but straightens herself up and stands. She grabs Quinn's towel and hands it to her.

"I apologize for everything. I should go."

This sentence quickly sobers Quinn's high from laughing. "Wait. Why?"

Rachel turns to look at her from the doorway with sad eyes. "I just. Well you sounded like you were choking and I got concerned and so I went to help you, not that I could do anything since you are in the shower, I should have thought of that, but you were choking and I was concerned and—"

Quinn takes her hand that isn't holding up her towel and cups Rachel's face in it. "You're fine. It's not like you saw anything or—"

Rachel looks away toward the wall to her right and blushes, which is saying something since it is normally hard to see a blush on tan skin.

"Oh. Well, we are both girls here. I change in front of girls all the time. It comes with being a cheerleader."

Rachel's ears begin to redden as dark as her face.

"What are you thinking, Rach?"

"I'm, I'm fine."

Quinn raises an eyebrow at her expecting a more honest response to come, but none ever came.

_Well that's new._

"That's not what I asked. I asked what you're thinking." Quinn says as she moves away from Rachel to repair the shower curtain.

"You should probably finish your shower now."

"Help me?"

"uhm. I don't think you need my help with that. You are perfectly capable of doing that on your own."

Quinn laughs, "Are you serious? You're just going to leave me here in my towel trying to do this on my own?" Quinn is doing her best to hold up her towel and close the rings that had popped open from the curtain mishap.

"I don't like you like that Quinn. I'm straight. You know this."

Quinn stills her hands. _What?_

Quinn turns around to face Rachel who is looking down at the sink to her side.

"What?" Quinn's head clouds as it tries to comprehend what was happening.

"Thanks for letting me brush my teeth, but I'm going to go see Mercedes and Kurt. I haven't really seen them much all weekend and I originally came to see them and I should go see them." Rachel makes an abrupt turn and a hasty exit after closing the door behind her.

_What just happened?_ Quinn, instead of trying to figure out that out, decides to ignore it and just finish her shower. Maybe Rachel will stop acting weird whenever she is finished.

* * *

><p>It has been at least a couple hours since the big bathroom incident of '13. Rachel is seated on the couch between Mercedes and Kurt while they watch Quinn and Blaine compete in Mario Kart for N64. Rachel hasn't even tried to play yet, but instead opts to study the game. If she gets to know the enemy maybe she will prevail at the game. It is in the midst of her analyzing the old videogame that she hears someone's cell go off.<p>

"We sign our cards and letters BFF  
>You've got a million ways to make me laugh<br>You're lookin' out for me, you've got my back  
>So good to have you around"<p>

"GET OUT OF MY WAY, ANDERSON. UNLESS YOU WANT A HEAT SEEKING SHELL UP YOUR ASS. OH WAIT. TOO LATE!"

"You have GOT to be kidding me Quinn! You just hit me with one two seconds ago!"

"You know the secrets I could never tell  
>And when I'm quiet you break through my shell<br>Don't feel the need to do a rebel yell  
>'Cause you keep my feet on the ground"<p>

"Q. Brittany is calling." Mercedes says nonchalantly.

"Get it plea—WHAT THE FU—"

"Language, Quinn." Kurt sighs.

"—DGE MUFFINS ARE YOU DOING? I WAS DISTRACTED."

_Is that Hannah Montana coming from Quinn's phone?_

"All is fair in love and war, blondie. And this is war!" Blaine then uses a blue looking spikey shell which hits Quinn's little dinosaur directly causing Rachel to wince.

"You're a true friend  
>You're here till the end<br>You pull me aside when something ain't right  
>Talk with me now and into the night<br>'Til it's alright again  
>You're a true friend"<p>

"Will you answer your cell please? We really don't need another visit from the duo calling. S eats us out of house and home and gets grumpy from the car ride." Kurt says with exasperation.

"Just wait. Just wait. I need to lap him so that—" Quinn replies distractedly while turning her controller as if she is actually the dinosaur driving the cart.

"You don't get angry when I change the plans  
>Somehow you're never out of second chances<br>Won't say "I told you" when I'm wrong again  
>I'm so lucky that I've found"<p>

"Quinn. Seriously. I can't take the honking coming from your phone."

"It's not my fault Brittany changed her ringtone without me knowing." Quinn huffs out in response. She then tosses the controller at Rachel. "If you kill my leading streak I will be rather upset with you, Berry. Good luck." And with that Quinn answers her phone and goes into her room to converse with her former cheerleader friends.

Blaine turns around and gives her a sickeningly sweet smile. "I'll go easy on you. No worries."

"I don't trust that face."

"What face?" Blaine smiles sweetly at her before turning back to the screen.

"How do I work this thing? Why don't you take this, Mercedes? Kurt?"

Mercedes and Kurt look at each other and laugh. "She handed it to you, babydoll. We are just here for the entertainment." Mercedes says placing the controller so that Rachel can hold it more effectively.

"Besides, I wouldn't want to incur Quinn's wrath by giving her a score of anything less than perfect. You're on your own there." Kurt says with a smile and a laugh. "Good luck with that."

Rachel feels her mouth suddenly go dry as Kurt and Mercedes explain the controls to her. They seem rather simple. Putting it into practice will probably not be that easy though.

"Are you ready?"

"I do not believe that I will ever be ready, Blaine, but considering the circumstances I suppose I am about as prepared as I could possi—DID YOU JUST START THE GAME WHILE I WAS TALKING TO YOU? SERIOUSLY?"

"I've got to make up for lost time, Rach. This is the best opportunity for me and I am taking full advantage of it." Blaine says with a smile as his monkey character races ahead.

"YOU'RE ON. YOU HAVE JUST AWOKEN THE TIGER WITHIN, ! I WILL KICK YOUR ASS YOU FILTHY MUGGLE!"

"I'M SHAKIN' IN MY STYLISH STILLETTOS SENORITA GRUMPY GILLS."

Rachel then begins to focus on the game, her little dinosaur soon swerving in between the slower vehicles around her. It is an adrenaline rush, almost as much as singing in front of an audience. After watching Quinn and Blaine race each other for about half an hour she has learned the basics. The only thing she doesn't understand was what some of those "power ups" are. Like the lightning bolt she has currently. Like really. Is it some Harry potter reference?

"Rachel, here is what you need to do. You see Blaine's Donkey Kong in front of you?" Kurt asks her.

"The monkey?"

"Yes. The monkey. I want you to use your power up when you think you can bump into him, ok? He is your only real contender on here anyway. The others have already been lapped by both Quinn and Blaine."

"WHY ARE YOU HELPING HER?"

"No reason to yell here. I'm just trying to save the poor girl's life. If she loses, Quinn will kill her. Honestly I don't know how the both of you have been sleeping together so harmoniously."

With that last sentence Rachel was so caught off guard that she swerved right into a crab causing her little dinosaur to squeak at her as it twirled on the screen.

"Uhm. I don't understand what you mean. Quinn's bed is much more comfortable than the couch and—"

"But that's just it, Rach. Her bed is a twin bed. You would have to practically sleep on top of each other in order for that to work. Trust me. We would know." Kurt says gesturing to him and the racing boy perched on the edge of a beanbag.

"Can we talk about this later? I mean, you are being extremely distracting and I am trying to beat Blaine for Quinn. I need to use all of my concentration for this one task. She will—"

"USE IT!" Mercedes yells. With a slight fidget of her hand, Rachel uses her power right as she careens into a, now tiny, monkey. Blaine's character turnes into a flat pancake and starts floating into the air.

"That was spectacular! Did you see that, Blaine? I told you I would dominate!" Rachel begins paying close attention to the game once again, sticking her tongue out in concentration.

"Did you seriously just pass me? Like seriously?"

"Your eyes do not deceive you! I told you! I told you! You should not have played so dirty!"

"Rachel?" Rachel jumps at the sound of her name and her car swervs for a moment, but she saves it from going into the water of Koopa Troopa Beach.

"Quinn? That was a quick conversation. Would you like your dinosaur back?" She asks as she pauses the game much to Blaine's dismay.

"Uhm. Actually, B wants to talk to you." Quinn says with a weary tone as she takes the controller out of Rachel's hands in exchange for Quinn's phone. The blonde then nonchalantly moves back to her own bean bag chair. "Did you want to play some Pokémon stadium after this? I need a change of pace" Quinn asks Blaine as Rachel answers the phone and walks into the bedroom that Quinn was previously in.

"Hello?"

"RACHEL!"

Rachel can't help but smile. Even if they weren't really that close in high school, she has always felt that this particular cheerleader doesn't mind her as much as the rest. Brittany is always so genuine. You know exactly what she is thinking and it is refreshing.

"Yes. Yes it is." Rachel giggles a little. "So what do you need? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I just don't like keeping secrets. But other than that I am doing ok. I was wondering if I could have your number."

"Uhh. Sure? I'll give you my number and you can just text me so I have yours, I guess."

"Great!" Brittany seems ecstatic as Rachel recites her number to her over the phone.

"Is there anything else?"

"Well… I. I kinda. Hold on. SAAAAANNNNNNN!" Brittany starts screaming into her ear at the end. _This can't be good._

"SAN! SAN! CAN I TELL RACHEL ABOUT EVERYTHING?" There is a faint "no" heard in the background and some shuffling. _This really can't be good._

"What in the world are you shoving this in my face for, B?" An angry Latina says into Rachel's ear.

"You are the one with the problem with _you know who_." Brittany says presumably to Santana, whispering "you know who" at the end.

"Can someone just please tell me what is going on here?"

"Be patient, Berry."

"But San! Really. If you are so worried you should get someone on your side."

"What's going on?" Rachel asks again becoming more confused with every moment.

"You should be the one that is on my side here, B, not Berry. Well actually, everyone should be on my side. I'm always right."

"I don't even know her yet. How can I pick sides? Q likes her. I trust Q. That's enough for me until I meet her. You're just a little paranoid."

"Will someone tell me something, please? Or should I hang up...?" Rachel hears a sigh before the Latina speaks.

"Are you planning on sticking around?" Santana says abruptly.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean."

"Santana wants to know if you will leave Quinn or if you will stay with her forever like us."

"Well, as far as I know we will stay friends, but—"

"No buts. If you want to know what is going on I need you to be able to be my eyes and ears. Q is still closeted as much as she thinks she isn't. Mercedes, Kurt, Blaine, even Trevor don't know about her."

"And normally she tells Trevor as much as she tells us!" Brittany pipes up.

"So we need to know if you are in this for the long haul. She doesn't need another person to leave her. To reject her. And I need someone on the inside that knows."

"Knows about what?"

"That she is a raging bi-sexual! Probably even more gay than she realizes. Come on Rachel, how can you not be following my train of thought here?"

"Did you just call me—"

"no."

"She did! She did! Actually, Rachel, San had a huge cru—"

"BRITTANY SUSAN PIERCE" Santana screams in the middle of the blonde's sentence.

"— you in high school! Why are you saying my name?"

Rachel's head is spinning. This conversation is just getting weird. It seems as if conversation with these two will always turn out with more questions than answers.

"Because—"

"Brittany. Santana. Please. Just tell me what you want from me." Rachel says before they go on a tangent.

There is a pause.

"Well go on." Brittany encourages the other girl.

"I. I. There is something wrong with that chick Q keeps blabbering about." The dark haired girl stammers out.

"Who?"

"I don't know. Anna? Adrianne? Applebees?" Santana's searching for the name is half-hearted.

"Abby." Brittany supplies for her.

"Abigail. Right. Yeah, well any way. I know you've met her. Q said as much to Brit whenever she called."

"I only met her for like ten minutes though." Rachel replies hoping to drop the subject.

"That's enough to get some form of judgment on her though."

"I. I don't have one."

"Yeah you do, Berry. You have judgments on people all the time. Or you used to anyway. So spill."

"But I don't know her yet." Rachel says quietly.

"See S? Not everyone gets bad feelings from people like you. You have to trust that Q knows what she's doing."

"Oh, and let her sleep with some chick like she did with Puck when drunk? Yeah. That girl is wonderful at making healthy decisions. Besides, Rachel here knows more than she is letting on. She has already formed an opinion. I know it."

The phone goes silent waiting for some kind of reaction from Rachel. What _does_ she think of Abigail? The girl seems to care about Quinn enough, maybe a little too much. She also seems demanding but Rachel can't judge that particular quality too hard since it is one she has herself. That quality is just a little different in Abigail though, more on the possessive side. Rachel relays her thoughts to Santana and the phone stays silent.

"Well? Is that all you needed? Did you hang up on me?" Rachel looks at the screen of Quinn's phone noticing that she is not cut off at least.

"I just. I don't know about her, Rachel. She seems too much like her father. Too demanding of her. Too forceful. And why hasn't Q even brought her over there to interact with the rest of you gleeks? It's all just too shady for my taste."

Overlooking the fact that Santana seems to be using her first name a decent amount in this odd conversation, Rachel notices the normally harsh voice grow gentler as time goes on. It is softer and warmer than she has ever heard it. Santana is actually concerned, and she is actually hoping Rachel can settle her fears.

"You know, she can't be too horrible. I mean, Quinn doesn't really have a low self esteem does she? Not low enough to date someone she doesn't—"

"Did you seriously just say that?" The Latina growls.

_Oh poop._

"Wha, What did I—"

This time Brittany chimes in. "I thought she said she was opening up to you! Did she lie to us? San? Did Q lie?"

"No. No. She is opening up! We just haven't had a lot of time to get to know one another. I mean, it has only been a couple of days. Give her time."

"You're defending Quinn." The simple quiet statement is said by Santana like she is trying to piece information together.

"Well. She didn't do anything wrong." Rachel says. There is more silence.

"I have a favor to ask of you, little bird." Santana says quietly seeming to still be lost in thought.

"Did you just call me—"

"Shut up and let me finish."

Rachel clamps down on her mouth but not before she politely asks Santana to continue her train of thought.

"I need you to watch over Q. Aretha doesn't know about Abby. She probably won't know about her until Q feels that it is safe for them to meet. The same goes for porcelain and eyebrows. Honestly, the only reason you met her was by chance. So. I need you to be my eyes and ears. If anything fishy happens you let me know. I'll have B text you my number. Just. I need Q to be safe. It's weird not being able to look out for her. She may not need a house to run to whenever her dad throws his fits any more, but it seems like she might have found a replacement terror. I just need some peace of mind, you listening, Stubbles?"

"What happened to little bird?" Rachel asks with a smirk. Is she really instigating Santana right now?

Santana chuckles on the line. "You grew some balls when you left. Interesting." Rachel beams in pride at the compliment. Well it is a compliment coming from Santana anyway. Normally she would not enjoy the comparison of her to a man with large testicles.

"Well I'm out. See you eventually. Just take care of each other or whatever."

"Bye Santana."

"So Rach?" Brit asks hesitantly.

"Yes, Brit?"

"Can we all be friends? Santana likes you."

Rachel chuckles. "We aren't friends already?" She asks.

"OH! Well I was hoping we were but I didn't know! SAN! WE WERE ALREADY FRIENDS WITH RACHEL! DID YOU KNOW THAT? Does that mean we can call you all the time too?"

"Uhm, If you want. I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to talking to either of you."

"Whenever we go over there we can all hang out ok? We can have dates together!"

"What do you mean?"

"Me, San, you, and Q. Duh Rachel! You do love Q too, don't you?"

"Well, I—"

"So it's settled. We will talk later, ok songbird? Bye I love you! Tell Q and the rest that we send our love."

"And by 'we' she means herself." Rachel hears Santana shouting faintly in the background as Brittany hangs up. Rachel can't help but smile. It seems as if the former head cheerios pact of "us" against "them" has officially broken down. Santana is in actuality a softie, and Brittany, well Brittany didn't seem to change much.

Walking back into the living room she can't get the stupid grin off her face. New York is everything she hoped it would be. And now she has more friends to share it with.

Sitting down on the couch, Rachel smooshes herself in-between her two first friends. "Do you want your cell back, Quinn?"

"HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOUR MAGIKARP WIN AGAINST MY BULBASAUR? I MEAN REALLY? DID YOU RIG THIS?" Blaine screams at the t.v screen as he tries to decide the next Pokémon to send out.

"Skill. And no, unless you don't want to hold onto it?" Quinn is now lying down on her belly with her legs crossed up in the air behind her. Bunbun is gently resting on her lower back.

"It's fine." Rachel says smiling.

"What did B want from you anyway?" Quinn asks as she exchanges her animal for a beautiful dog with what looks like nine tails.

"Just my num—"

"The lights are out and I barely know you.  
>We're going up and the place is slowing down.<br>I knew you'd come around."

Rachel stops mid-sentence and looks down at Quinn's phone.

"You captivate me, something about you has got me.  
>I was lonely now you make me feel alive.<br>Will you be mine tonight?"

"Do you want it Quinn?"

"Nah. It's just Abs. Answer it and tell her I'll talk after I fry Blaine's Vileplume."

"Take me on the floor (dadada da dadadada)  
>I can't take it any more (dadada da dadadada)<br>I want you, I want you, I want you to show me love—"

"Hello?"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I do not own Glee**

_How did we end up here_? Quinn looks down at her hands folded in front of her like she is at a department chair meeting. There are five sets of eyes turned toward her, expecting some sort of answer to each of their questions. The game stations are now turned off and she itches to lose herself in a game. She wants to attack things, to be anywhere but here. The feeling is foreign for her new life in New York. It makes her feel weak, disgusting, out of control. She hates this feeling.

Quinn doesn't dare to unclasp her hands to feel her stomach and take comfort in the ghost of a little girl who used to grow inside of her. She needs to seem poised, calm, controlling, level-headed, and powerful. Nothing will be allowed to touch her and tip the balance of the makeshift family she has grown to love.

As soon as she met the little one that sat across from her everything changed in her life. Her family changed, her life changed. If she hadn't met her then maybe things would be going ok now. Maybe she wouldn't have to deal with these particular issues. Maybe…

No. That is not right. Quinn Fabray is Quinn Fabray. She was born as Quinn Fabray, she will die as Quinn Fabray. God made her as Quinn Fabray. God loves her as Quinn Fabray, even if she isn't exactly as straight as she portrays herself. Well He should anyway.

God. Well He is another notion entirely, one that does not need to be thought about right now.

"Why would you be scared to tell us you're bi? Like really Quinn? Have you seen who we hang out with?" Mercedes says forcefully gesturing at Kurt and Blaine.

"We could have helped you! You didn't have to hide the fact that you have a girlfriend!" Kurt says throwing his hands up in the air.

"And what about the other people you date? Are you stringing them along? I mean, I love you Quinn. I really do. But that is unfair to them if you are already in a relationship." Blaine says in a lecturing tone.

"Q. I could never not accept you. I thought you knew that." Mercedes says quietly.

"How could I not know you were gay! I mean really, you had all the signs. I can't believe it. I should have known. What is wrong with me?" Kurt says to no one in particular.

"And what about your poor girlfriend? You shouldn't have to hide who you are. She shouldn't have to hide who she is for you either." Blaine says, furthering his lecture.

"It's not like that. I just had to talk to her and Rachel was there and it slipped out…" Abby says trying to do a little bit of damage control. "We aren't even girlfriends! We are just dating. It was a slip of the tongue! I just… I really like her, ok? And it just slipped out." Abby turns to Quinn at that last part. Quinn can only tell that this happened because she can see Abby in her peripheral vision. The blonde hasn't moved her eyes from her hands in the past 15 minutes of lectures and arguments.

"_Hello?" Rachel says as Quinn sets Blaine's vileplume on fire with a simple flame thrower._

"_Rachel Berry." Quinn hears Rachel's tone become tense and instantly sits up causing Bunbun to fall off her back and hop toward Rachel. Quinn looks at Rachel trying to read her features._

"_Yeah. The demon is doing fine." Rachel says as she pushes Bunbun away from her with her foot. Bunbun would not be told no though, and eventually plops on top of Rachel's foot causing her to squeak and toss him across the room and onto the beanbag Quinn had vacated earlier. The blonde's eyes narrow at Rachel's poor behavior to her baby boy. _

_Mercedes and Kurt see the look in her eye and quickly vacate the couch, choosing not to get into the line of fire of an upset Quinn Fabray._

_The blonde picks Bunbun up and walks around to the back of the couch. She then dumps him on Rachel's shoulders in retaliation. This causes Rachel to toss the phone up into the air and scream in terror, but not before pulling Quinn on top of her as a shield for the Bunny that is now on the other end of the couch. It is then that all hell breaks loose._

_Quinn, being forced onto Rachel but not wanting to squish her, ends up straddling her and holding her body up with her arms. Rachel looks flushed from the events that have just occurred, but there is another look in her eyes that Quinn can't place. It is like a fogged over look. She must have done something wrong._

"_GET SOME GIRL!" Mercedes says from across the room giggling with Kurt at the thought of Rachel and Quinn._

"_Quinn?"_

_The blonde looks up over the couch to find Abby near the doorway expressionless._

"_Quinn?"_

_The blonde looks below her at Rachel whose gaze, being cleansed of its murkiness, now holds a look of concern._

_Rachel leans up as Quinn leans back so that she can see who has just arrived. "Abigail?"_

"_Rachel? What are you doing with my girlfriend?"_

She should probably say something, right? With all these questions being thrown at her she should at least address something. Yes. Some kind of acknowledgement would be a good idea. Who first though? Should she consol Abby? Well, she did kind of start all of this. If she had just stayed home then none of this would have happened. So no. Not Abby. _Too pissed for that one_. Why the hell is she here anyway?

Then there is Blaine. Lecturing her about how she is 'stringing along' everyone she is dating since she hasn't chosen any of them. Isn't that that point of dating though? To try new things and make a decision later? _Whatever. Not him either._

What about Kurt? Of course Kurt is making it more about himself sucking at being a gay detector. The prospect of teasing Kurt sounds good right about now, but not the best course of action.

As for Mercedes, she is hurt. She is the one that will need the most damage control. How could she have kept this from her best friend for so long? Well yeah, Mercedes would have accepted her, but it doesn't exactly work that way. The blonde has barely begun to admit it to herself, let alone say it out loud that she isn't exactly straight. How is she supposed to articulate everything to Mercedes whenever she can't physically say what she needs to say? If she can't admit it to herself then how is she supposed to express it to people who care about her?

How is she supposed to tell all of them this when the people in her life tend to leave her?

Everyone leaves.

Rachel. Rachel never left. Quinn left Rachel. The thought of that day stung more than any other memory of school. That's whenever everything started. They just are not meant to be apart. What's even worse is that she was pretending the entire time. Rachel may be the best actress on stage, but Quinn Fabray was an actress off stage. After all, she has been practicing since Kindergarten.

Rachel also has been fairly quiet throughout this whole ordeal. She hasn't yelled. She hasn't said anything at all actually. Quinn finally looks up from her hands while her friends still talk at her. Abby looks hopeful now that she has finally moved, but Quinn doesn't look at any of them for long. She only has eyes for one person, a brunette that has left the table.

Quinn stands up. "Don't follow me." With that said she exits the kitchen and holds onto the doorway to her room. She is about to knock on the open door but Rachel talks before she can.

"I just don't know anything. Why do I feel like I should know more? It's only been two days since we reunited, but she's different. She's the Quinn I knew her to be so long ago. The one I, well, you know what I'm saying Bunbun. I just… I have so many questions. But I don't have the right to the answers. At least I shouldn't have the right to the answers."

"You can ask any question you want, remember?" Quinn says walking to the bed after closing the door. "You have the right to some answers."

* * *

><p>Rachel scoots over taking Bunbun with her so that Quinn will have more room. The blonde ends up sitting close to her regardless. Her torso instantly warms as Quinn wraps her in a side hug.<p>

"Why are you here? Why are you not pestering me with questions too?" The girl beside her leans her head on Rachel's shoulder causing Rachel to feel warmth inside as well as out.

"Well, it is not really any of my business is it? And I have met Abigail. I don't need to meet her again. Besides, I have technically only been your friend since—"

"- Elementary school?"

Rachel had originally intended to say yesterday, but Quinn's answer leaves her perplexed. Quinn left her in Elementary school and didn't want to go back to her until now. Yes, Rachel has been Quinn's friend since Elementary school, but it hasn't ever been reciprocated until now. She doubted Quinn was her friend even back then. It has been so long ago and she thought it might have been wishful thinking on her own part that they had been friends. Memories are weird that way. If you wish hard enough sometimes you start to believe that an event actually happened.

Quinn then sits up breaking her hold on the brunette and looks at the side of Rachel's face. The blonde moves her position so that she can sit with her entire body facing Rachel.

"It wasn't my choice, if that means anything to you. It probably doesn't, but know that it wasn't my choice. I didn't want to leave you. You were so little and scared that day we met. I instantly knew I wanted to be there for you. So I was. I was there. But then things went bad at home." Quinn pauses for a moment clearly thinking back to the day that she moved out of Rachel's class. The brunette can feel the air around her tense as Quinn talks about her home life.

"He found out about it and there wasn't anything I could do. I tried to stay... "

There is a pause as Quinn changes her story to a different point in time

"…I had been friends with Brittany already. We went to day care together. Whenever we went into kindergarten we were excited because we were in the same class. That is where Brittany introduced me to Santana and I met you. Their story will come in later in my explanation, ok? Just remember that Brittany and I have been friends before anyone else."

Rachel turns to look at Quinn who smiles a sad smile in return. Quinn moves some stray hair out of Rachel's face. She feels the hand linger for a few moments before it is placed onto her leg. Quinn turns Rachel on the bed so that they are facing each other, knees touching knees.

"So anyway, do you remember that first day at all? You were wearing a gold star sweater."

"I distinctly remember wearing bunnies." Rachel says, seeing if Quinn is just yanking her chain.

Quinn chuckles. "No. That would be my sundress pattern. I was obsessed with the tale of peter rabbit back then. My dress had those bunnies on it. I begged and begged for that dress and wore it all the time. I used to get yelled at for wearing it so much."

"Oh."

"Well anyway," Quinn looks down as she fidgets with her fingers "do you remember that week at all? I mean I can understand if you don't." She laughs a broken laugh, "It was only kindergarten. I don't expect you to remember a time when I was nice to you."

Rachel nods speaking softly. "I remember."

Quinn smiles slightly and continues with her story. "So we were fast friends. We did everything together at school. You were all I would talk about at home. My family loved that I had made more friends. They liked Brittany, but I later found out that they thought she would hold me back. If anything, she is the one that kept me going."

Quinn's demeanor begins to seem less clean cut and uptight as she recounts her story. It is then that the brunette realizes that Quinn is opening up to her without Rachel having to prompt her. Quinn wants Rachel to know this part of her. But why does the blonde feel the need to tell her all of this?

"So you and I would hangout during class, and all four of us would play during recess and eat lunch together. We were inseparable. I protected you from San's bitching and those kids that tried to kick sand in your face."

"It's hard to believe that Jacob was like that at any time."

Quinn crosses her arms clearly upset about something. "He liked you. He was an immature asshole and he didn't deserve you."

"Breaking his glasses still wasn't a good idea."

"He was about to kick sand in your face! How else was I supposed to react?"

"I don't know. Lead me away from him? Violence isn't the answer Quinn."

"Well I figured that out. That's why I had Santana."

"That's true. You always have been rather passive now that I think about it."

"Thank you." Quinn says curtly at the acknowledgement still clearly upset.

"But you were never passive when it came to taking care of me." Rachel says starting to remember those first few weeks more clearly.

"Yeah."

There is a little bit of silence as they soaked in their memories of one another.

"Why did you leave then?" Rachel whispers.

"I wasn't allowed to see you. My father transferred me out of your class and into a new one. That's where I met Karofsky and Finn."

"Why did he make you leave?"

"He told me some not very nice things about you and said I wasn't allowed to see you. He pulled his weight and got the teachers to enforce those rules."

"But why? What did he say?"

Quinn pauses in her answer, clearly not happy with her memories. "He was afraid I would 'catch the gay'. Being the mindless child I was, I became terrified of such an occurrence. But I lo-liked you so that's why I would get Brittany to bring you notes, do you remember that?"

"The notes stopped after a couple of months."

"My father caught me writing them. I was reprimanded for it too."

"What do you mean?"

"That's a question for another day."

Rachel furrows her brows in thought. Something sinister is going on, or went on, in Quinn's life. She will have to find out what had happened in the Fabray household.

"You said the fact that you and Brittany were close friends would come in later."

"Do you remember how Brittany was always around you in elementary school?"

"I distinctly remember the names Santana called me whenever she caught us hanging out, yes."

"Santana never meant any of that by the way. She just thought that Brittany had a crush on you."

"That doesn't exactly give her the right to be a brat to me."

"I know." Quinn says and looks into Rachel's eyes apologetically. She looks guilt ridden. As if she is in physical pain for the hurt that has happened to Rachel in the past.

"So Brittany was always around me…?"

"Yeah. On my request. If I couldn't be around you or take care of you someone had to. Brittany was my best friend. My eyes and ears. She protected you whenever I couldn't be what I wanted to be. Her adoration of you also was a big help in getting her to protect you while I was gone. She told me she would have done it anyway without my insistence."

"And what did you want to be?"

Quinn sits silently, probably mulling over whether she should tell Rachel the answer or not.

"You don't have to answer that."

"I was really into the medieval times unit we did in elementary school. Did you ever do that unit?"

"I thought it was mandatory for everyone."

"Oh. Well yeah. I wanted to be a knight. They always seemed way more badass to me than any other position in the hierarchy."

Rachel thinks back to elementary school and how she and every other girl around her had imagined being princesses, waiting for their gorgeous knight to carry them away and save them. Well, every other girl besides Santana and Brittany. Santana wanted to be a dragon and Brittany wanted to be a duck. 'There are ducks in every time period' she used to say to defend her position to the other girls.

"So you wanted to be a knight rescuing random people from disasters and going on dangerous adventures?"

"You would understand the appeal if you had lived in my home. Being a damsel in real life isn't as lovely as people tend to think. And I didn't want to be just any knight."

Rachel chuckles. "Oh really?"

"Really, really."

"And what kind of knight did you want to be?"

"Would saying your white knight be too cheesy here, because if so than I would be content with just the regular white knight status." Quinn says with a wink.

Rachel sits in front of Quinn staring into the hazel eyes. There is humor in them but also a hint of something more. Hope? Sadness? Fear? Rachel can't tell. But she does know that she, herself, wasn't gay. Definitely not.

Rachel roams her eyes over the girl in front of her as she thinks. She may not be gay, but it certainly is flattering that Quinn would like her. Gorgeous doesn't even begin to describe the essence of the glowing blonde. She is perfect in her imperfections. Her blonde hair glows angelically and when she smiles it ignited something in her chest, causing a flame to branch out into her extremities. Quinn liking her in elementary school is very flattering indeed.

"It is pretty cheesy." Rachel chuckles. "But you do know that those feelings can't be reciprocated, right?"

Quinn's face seems to give none of her thoughts away, which worries Rachel. One moment the blonde is expressive, the next she reverts back to the old Quinn she remembers all too well.

"I know. It was just a dream as a kid anyway."

There is silence as Quinn seems to be lost in thought. Looking at Quinn, Rachel can see that she really is her white knight. The knight she has been waiting for. She was there in her most dire time of need. She might need her if she ever would have to deal with that crowd again. Rachel unconsciously rubs her hands around the, now less noticeable, bruises on her wrists. How had she screwed that entire situation up so thoroughly, anyway?

"Can I ask you a question?"

Rachel turns and sees determination in the blonde's eyes. It is her turn to ask and she would be damned if Rachel denied her of that. As if Rachel ever could do such a thing.

"You just did."

"You know what I mean." Quinn gets quiet again. It is like she is losing her resolve.

"Ask away. Anything you want."

Quinn looks like she wants to ask something in particular, but at the last moment she changes her mind. "What—what do you think of Abs?"

Rachel frowns. "Is that really your question?"

"Well, it's one of my many questions. I figured I would start out easy." Quinn smiles. If this is an easy question then Rachel would be in for hell later. Why had she agreed to this?

"Well, I don't really know her."

"Use your sixth sense." Quinn chuckles.

"Well, who is she?" Rachel smiles at the thought of getting two of her questions answered in one day

"Morgan Abigail Johnson. She has bright red hair and quite the sweet tooth."

"No, who is she to you?"

"Complicated." Rachel furrows her brow making it obvious to Quinn that she doesn't understand and isn't content with the blonde's response. _Like really? How does that answer anything?_ Complicated. Bunbun is complicated too, but she doubted that he was in the same league of 'complicated'. Whenever she notices that Quinn isn't going to give any other answer she responds.

"I am not content with your answer."

"I said only one big question a day, didn't I? Besides, I want your sixth sense here. Not a factual based response."

Rachel, suddenly upset with having to wait longer for information on the other girl, gets up and exits the room swiftly. She will have to bring matters into her own hands then.

"Rachel? Where are you going?" Quinn calls after her as the brunette exits the room. "Well this can't be good."


	12. Chapter 12

Quinn looks at Bunbun for guidance. "Do you think it is safe for me to go or would I just screw up everything even more?"

Bunbun twitches his nose in response and flops off the bed and out of the room following Rachel. Clearly Bunbun has a new crush. Quinn can hardly blame him though and chuckles as she gets up from the bed to try and do damage control. Maybe she shouldn't have divulged so much to Rachel. Or maybe she should have just told her more. Either way she will have to clean up this huge mess of a misconception somehow. She doubts a determined Rachel Berry will make the situation much better either.

"Excuse me." Rachel says to the room at large. Everyone in the room silences as Rachel strides in with Quinn on her heels.

Quinn brings her index finger and thumb to the bridge of her nose trying to squeeze her new headache away. Her calm calculating nature is screaming at Rachel to shut up and think before she speaks but it is a bit too late by now. Might as well ride out this wave and work on her quick wits.

Rachel points to Abigail as she speaks "What are you in relation to Quinn?"

Abigail swallows hard and looks over at Quinn for guidance. "Well, you would have to ask her that."

The group at the table all turns in their chairs to face Quinn.

"I am dating her. She is a friend and I am getting to know her."

"Getting to know friends isn't a reason to date someone. If that were the case you would be dating me." Rachel says, exasperation fueling her anger. Obviously the girl wants answers but it is hard to tell why she is so adamant about this. _Why does she care so much?_

Quinn stands quietly. She would be dating Rachel if the brunette hadn't expressed disinterest in her.

Abigail looks hopeful suddenly. "She said no to you?" The question is directed at Quinn and it makes her heart hurt a bit.

"In a loose context, but I didn't exactly ask."

"Ask what?" Rachel asks.

"Not here." Quinn says to Rachel and Abigail. "If you would both like to discuss our relationships with one another then fine, but not here."

"Q, you kind of owe us some answers too." Mercedes says quietly, raising her eyes to Quinn's.

"Yeah. I do, but in a more structured fashion. With all of you talking to me at the same time I can barely concentrate, let alone give an appropriate response. I will tell you all what is going on, but if I don't want to answer some questions then you need to respect that. It is my life that we are discussing. Some things I would like to keep private."

"So no sex questions?" Kurt says with a wink completely dissolving the serious atmosphere.

"Maybe later." Quinn winks back at him causing giggles from the table and a look of horror on Abby's face. Quinn can't see Rachel's face since she is still standing behind her, but her body seems to tense up.

Quinn moves behind Rachel and whispers to her as their friends at the table laugh at Kurt's musings on what having sex with Quinn would be like. "I was just kidding, Rach." Quinn goes to grab Rachel's hand but she pulls away and sits in her previous seat at the table. Quinn frowns not comprehending why Rachel is so upset and moves to sit, once again, at the head of the table.

"Alright. The main rule is no lecturing. I don't care what you ask me, we are all family here" _the only family I have ever had really_, "and I don't want to be treated any differently due to my past indiscretions."

Everyone at the table nods, except for Rachel who has her eyes trained on her own hands fiddling with a napkin, rolling it around absentmindedly between her fingers.

"Alright. So. One question is allowed per person at the table. If you have any other questions I can talk to you privately. Some issues I would like to keep between me and the individual asking, alright? Uhm, ok. So. Who's first?"

Kurt sits up straight in his chair and looks at Quinn, "I wouldn't mind breaking the ice here."

Quinn gestures to Kurt that the floor is his and he nods his head in thanks.

"Have you ever done anything with a girl before? I mean personally I find them gross, no offense, but I have an inkling that you have because there are some nights where you come in late from 'studying'" _Did Kurt seriously do air quotes just then? Yes. Yes he did_ "with a glow. Like, you would have that look on your face that Finn would get after taking that first bite of sour patch kids after lent."

Quinn glances at Rachel and sees her hands still from playing with the napkin and returns her eyes to Kurt as soon as Rachel brings her eyes up to meet Quinn's. That one night she had with Rachel flashes back into her memory. It is actually the same night that the picture of the Glee Club circle had been taken, the one where Quinn actually finagled her way next to Rachel during circle time and they were giggling. Little did they know that they would share a kiss later that night whenever a drunk and upset Finn Hudson locked them in a closet together hoping that Rachel would get what she deserved in breaking up with him. Finn may have been a little timid whenever sober, but when drunk he could be kind of… scary. That is why he tended to stay sober at parties.

But that type of action is probably not what Kurt means. Either way it would be the same answer. Not that dares Brittany ever made Quinn participate in should ever be seriously considered in any situation.

Quinn sighs deeply and decides that lying now would be counterproductive to her becoming a person that she can be proud of.

"Yes. Next question?"

"Woah woah woah! You can't just move on from…"

Quinn fixes him with a glare which causes him to stop mid sentence and look slightly chagrined. She has to give Kurt points though, since he tries to play it off as best as he can.

"I was just kidding. I am not interested in your sex life at all. Lady parts are just icky anyway."

"So next question?"

Blaine clears his throat and waves at Quinn hoping to be next.

"Go for it." Quinn smiled in return. Actually her smile is closer to a grimace since she remembers the earlier lecturing, but he was just trying to help and she has to remember that. He is like an annoying older brother that thinks he knows everything. Quinn scrunches her nose at that thought for a moment but quickly changes her facial expression to one that is more serene.

Blaine reaches over Kurt to grab Quinn's hands that are folded in front of her. "How serious are you about this? Like, is it just Abigail here that you are attracted to or are there others? You didn't just hook up when you were drunk and then assume that your kisses meant something, right?"

Rachel snorts a quick laugh at the other end of the table, but composes quickly. Quinn grins at the sound. Rachel's laugh is one thing that Quinn misses the most about high school. The tinkling in her ears would always make her hair stand on end and send chills through her body. At one point she had blamed it on her jealousy and anger toward the girl for the cause of it. Recently she finds that it might have actually been attraction. She likes to think that she had been like an older version of Helga Pataki, only much more attractive and without the unibrow.

Blaine squeezes her hand bringing her out of her thoughts. She looks into his sad eyes and looks at Rachel again. "Serious as the plague." Rachel Berry has plagued her existence since day one. She is everywhere, her thoughts, her dreams, now even in her home, yet still the brunette will never be her own to have and hold. It is like placing an alcoholic in a liquor store with no money. She has nothing in her bag of tricks to get the one thing she wants the most.

Blaine seems to have been looking at Quinn while she deliberated for something in particular. What he finds seems to please his fancy so he nods letting go of Quinn's hands to let someone else ask a question.

The blonde then looks to the females in the room waiting for questions. She zeroes in on Mercedes figuring that she owes her the most out of anyone at the table.

Mercedes shrugs. "I will talk to you one on one later, if that's ok?"

"Of course it is." Quinn gives her best friend a small smile and then turns to Rachel. She really doesn't want to have to figure out this entire thing with Abby yet and she feels that she doesn't owe her anything in front of her other friends quite yet either. She intruded on her territory. No one is allowed here except for Henry, and that is just because he delivers their pizzas. Trevor doesn't count either because he is Trevor.

Rising from her seat, the blonde decides to conclude the makeshift meeting and hopefully get Rachel to be a little more relaxed. She seems a little more nervous and upset about something than usual. "If there are no other questions I'd like to go back to relaxing on my day off…"

Rachel timidly raises her eyes into Quinn's looking like she was about to say something when Abby's tiny voice comes from across the table.

"I… I have a question for you."

Quinn stops halfway on her way over to talk to Rachel and looks over at Abigail.

"Can't this wait?"

"No. It's waited long enough."

_Frick. This can't be good._

"ok…"

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

* * *

><p>Rachel has never really liked redheads. Something about them screams "I'm-going-to-take-what-you-want-most-right-before-you-realize-you-want-it-and-then-throw-the-fact-that-I-got-it-into-your-face-like-a-rowdy-audience-throws-tomatoes-in-the-theater-whenever-they-are-not-satisfied-with-a-performance". This, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with the current situation in which she is twisting a napkin while half listening to the conversation around her.<p>

"Have you ever done anything with a girl before? I mean personally I find them gross, no offense, but I have an inkling that you have because there are some nights where you come in late from 'studying' with a glow. Like, you would have that look on your face that Finn would get after taking that first bite of sour patch kids after lent." Kurt asks sounding like he is about to get some juicy information.

Rachel slows her hands to listen more intently to Quinn's answer. If she says yes then the odds are it would be with the redhead at the table. This honestly shouldn't be bothering her so much. She is not gay. Not that there is anything wrong with being gay. She just always imagined marrying the perfect man. They would meet on Broadway after doing her first very first show. She would be the one revolutionizing a new character and causing people worldwide to know the name Rachel Berry, and he would already know the ropes. He would be her mentor and they would fall in love and live happily ever after. They would even make a movie after her about her trials and tribulations that led her to becoming a star and he would be the happy ending to the movie.

Now she is beginning to re-think that entire scenario, especially since she doesn't believe that she will be able to convince Quinn to play herself as a high schooler. No celebrity can really do the role of Quinn Fabray justice besides the enigmatic blonde.

Rachel looks up to see why Quinn is being so quiet. She just wants an answer now. She has never been one for patience. Whenever she looks over at Quinn she notices that the blonde has been watching her. She instantly looks back down at her hands and begins twisting her napkin so tightly it starts to snow pieces of napkin onto the table.

_Wait. Quinn has done things with a girl before, hasn't she? Well, not what Kurt is thinking about, but…_

Rachel's mind flashes back to the night of the Glee Club circle.

_They are all hand in hand and is spouting on and on about being a family no matter what. If she is to be honest, Brittany may have been the better choice at giving a speech right before they leave for nationals again. She has a way with words and no one would ever know that unless they really listen to the girl talk about something she is passionate about._

_Quinn squeezes her hand about half-way through the speech grabbing her attention. She is mumbling something that Rachel can't quite hear so she nonchalantly moves a little closer to the blonde to see if she is talking to her._

"…_so thank you. I know I haven't been too easy a follower to listen to. I know I complain a lot about things not going my way, but if I am to honestly look at my life now I would say it isn't too bad. I have accomplished things I have never even imagined accomplishing. I have had a child out of wedlock, but God did you ever make her beautiful. I have made friends. I have a real family to go to because of all of the crap you helped me go through. So I want to thank you most of all. But honestly God, I want you to watch out for Rachel Berry while I am not around. She can be a handful. You and I both know that. And yes, I said that about them all, but her especially. Just take care of her. Please. Oh, and help us win nationals I guess. It would mean a lot to my new family. Uh thanks. Amen."_

_Quinn carefully looks around the circle to see if Schuester has finished his spiel yet causing Rachel to giggle._

"_uhm, did you listen in on my prayer, Berry?" Quinn's hand tenses inside of hers for a moment before she exudes her usual calm demeanor._

"_I need taken care of the most? Really Quinn? I do not understand…"_

"_shhh. You're getting loud. You don't want to attract attention do you?"_

"_oh. Right. But really. I am quite capable of taking care of myself."_

_Quinn nods slightly in agreement "That's what she said."_

_Rachel's jaw drops open as Quinn laughs quietly beside her._

"_I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you correctly. Can you say that again?"_

"_You said 'I am quite capable of taking care of myself' and I said 'That's what she said.'"_

_Quinn giggles more but tries to conceal her laughter since she is starting to grab the attention of the people around her. Rachel can't help herself. She lets out a honking laugh. She just… she can't help it. It is like all of those years of animosity vanished with a "that's what she said" joke. Quinn snorts at the sound and tries to get the brunette next to her to be quiet, but by that time the entire club has caught the giggles causing to become frustrated at first. Towards the end the giggles begin to affect even him. _

"Yes. Next Question?" Quinn says interrupting her inner thoughts.

_Wait. What? Does this mean that Quinn has… did she have intercourse with the harlot?_ Rachel glances sideways at the redhead who is looking a little nervous and antsy. Obviously so. Rachel can't help but be annoyed. Someone who is so nervous about saying that she is having sex with someone that beautiful really doesn't deserve her. If Rachel were having sex with Quinn she would have been proud to say it and then recommend some of the various sexual posit…

_What the hell am I thinking?_

"How serious are you about this? Like, is it just Abigail here that you are attracted to or are there others? You didn't just hook up when you were drunk and then assume that your kisses meant something, right?" Blaine says grabbing her attention away from the redhead and making her snort with quick laughter.

Rachel can't help herself from chuckling at this for two reasons. One being that Blaine had kissed her when drunk before and they both knew how horrendous that story had turned out. They had thought they were attracted to each other. Long story short they are not.

The second reason has a lot less finality to it though.

"_I can't believe you broke up with me! I didn't do anything to deserve all of this! I love you Rachel! I would have gone to New York with you. We could have really had something! And yet you don't even care. You strung me along all through high school only to dump me in the end. Thanks a lot."_

"_I didn't string you along though! I told you that this might not end well. That I am going to go after my dream. You knew that! You didn't want to go to New York though. I couldn't just make you go some place that you wouldn't be happy going. That's not my way. I would have been a hypocrite then Finn."_

"_You are such a bitch sometimes. Seriously. I don't understand why this is happening. I was going to marry you. We could have had children. Instead my ex girlfriend gets knocked up with my best friend's child and I try to make you love me and you don't."_

"_This is not the time or the place to be discussing this Finn. This was meant to be a celebration. This is us graduating. This is us placing at Nationals! This is about our makeshift family. Let's just put this behind us for tonight, ok?"_

"_I was supposed to have a family with you! Or even with Quinn. Instead you both are leaving me!"_

"_Finn. You are drunk. Why don't you calm down for a moment?" Rachel looks around the deserted Puckerman kitchen hoping to find some water. Maybe if Finn could sober up a bit he would be back to normal and then they could both go into the other room and actually relax for once._

"_I AM NOT DRUNK! YOU CALM DOWN!"_

_Just then Quinn opens the kitchen door and slides in, drink sloshing in her hand. "OH THERE YOU ARE! I WAS LOOKING FOR BOTH OF YOU!"_

_Rachel turns around just as Finn makes a break for the beer stash. "Hello Quinn. What do you want?"_

"_I DON'T KNOW. I WAS JUST IN THE AREA AND I HEARD A NOISE AND I WAS WORRIED AND I…"_

"_Quinn?"_

"_YES RA- RACHEL?"_

"_You do know what an inside voice is right?"_

"_Oh. Oh yeah." Quinn says now whispering with giggles. This causes Rachel to giggle and Finn to let out an annoyed huff._

_Quinn looks over at Finn glaring. "Lovers' spat?"_

_Finn makes a low guttural noise causing Quinn to jump slightly and move in front of Rachel a bit to create distance between the brunette and Finn. "That was a nice articulate answer. You obviously have been thinking before you speak. Good job. I approve. But really, you should stop speaking, Neanderthal, before you scare the last good thing you have going for you away."_

"_You haven't even heard me talk to her yet tonight." Finn says in a low voice that is quite intimidating. The dopey Finn Hudson has left and drunk Finn had come out to play. Who had let him drink again?_

"_Yes. I actually have. Your barking could have been heard from Tallahassee. I should call my sister and ask if she is disturbed yet."_

_Finn literally grr-ed in anger really starting to freak Rachel out but Quinn, drunk as ever, keeps on going._

"_Just leave her alone. You're not good for her. At least not when you are drunk. You should always want to be protecting her. Instead you are yelling at her and blaming her for being a good person. Let her live her dreams. Let her be who she is. If you kept her she would be caged. She's a fucking bird Finn. Let her fly. Locking her up would be a sin."_

"_You're not her friend Quinn. You are a bitch and a whore. You act as if you are all high and mighty but when have you even been there for her? Where the hell were you when she needed someone?"_

"_I could ask you the same question Finnocence. You want to know what I've been doing all these years?"_

"_YES QUINN. I WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU HAVE BEEN SLUTTING IT UP ALL OF THESE YEARS."_

_Quinn stands there silently and shakes her head. "You're not worth my time and you are definitely not worth hers." Quinn then slowly walks backwards into Rachel trying to push her out of the room without losing eye contact with Finn._

"_SERIOUSLY? AND WHO COULD BE BETTER FOR RACHEL THAN ME?"_

_Quinn shrugs nonchalantly in her drunkenness. Rachel can't help but wonder if she would have acted the same when sober. "Anyone."_

_Finn snorts. "Well not anyone. You couldn't do better."_

_Quinn halts their advance to the door. Rachel notices that the blonde is clenching and unclenching her hands. "What is that supposed to mean?"_

"_It means what it means." Is Rachel the only one in the room not able to make sense of that last statement?_

"_Take it back." Obviously so. Maybe only drunk people can figure that one out._

"_Why so upset Quinn? Are you tired of whoring around with the popular crowd? Ready to come down to Rachel's level?"_

_Quinn then launches herself at Finn, fists flying. In one swift movement Finn picks the drunk blonde up and swings her over his shoulders, simultaneously grabbing Rachel by the wrist, walking them both upstairs._

"_WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HUDSON? GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER AND LET ME DOWN YOU IGNORAMOUS!"_

_Rachel is too confused at this point to think clearly and notices that he has directed them to the closet that houses all of the Puckerman's cleaning products. _

"_Let's see how well you do, Fabray. Last half an hour in there with her and we will see who is better for her. Good luck surviving without me, Rachel."_

"Serious as the plague." Quinn says knocking Rachel out of her reverie. Rachel looks up and their eyes lock in an intense moment. It is as if Quinn has been thinking about her this entire time. Like Quinn is trying to tell her something.

"_Quinn?"_

"Yeah Rachel?"

"_You're kind of stepping on my foot."_

"_oh. Sorry."_

_The two girls have just been thrown into the closet together and Quinn has finally stopped struggling with trying to get the door open as Rachel clicks the light on._

_Quinn flops down onto the floor and looks up at a standing Rachel. "Not that I mind the view, but you know you can sit down, right?"_

"_What?"_

"_Sit down, Birdy."Quinn says patting her lap. "It's not like there is any other place to sit in here and honestly you could do worse than sitting on me."_

"_I'd rather stand, thank you."_

"_Finn said that he wouldn't be back for half an hour. If you really want to stand that long then be my guest."Quinn says shrugging her shoulders looking a little bored._

_Rachel begins to fidget around, shifting her weight from one foot to the other suddenly aware that she has been standing all night._

"_Seriously, I am not going to do you any harm regardless of what Finn may think."_

_Rachel sighs because really Quinn is right. She could be in a worse situation. Santana could have been Quinn. She shudders and carefully sits in the blonde's lap as Quinn reclines back holding herself up with her arms._

"_Am I… Am I too heavy?"_

"_I'm head cheerleader, or I used to be. I think I can handle the weight of a little birdie." Quinn says and smiles at her._

_Once again they sit there for a while waiting and listening to the party going on downstairs. Apparently Brittany and Santana are causing a riot of some sort as Britney Spears starts blaring on the stereo._

"_Sooooo…" Rachel asks Quinn. She doesn't really have a way to finish her sentence. She just doesn't like silence and it is kind of freaking her out a bit that they are getting along so well._

_Quinn sits up and wraps her arms around Rachel's waist while setting her chin on the slender shoulder. "Mmmm?"_

"_Uhhh… What, What are you doing?"_

"_Sitting up. Is that bad?" Quinn begins to move back to her original position but for some reason Rachel can't stop herself from grabbing the arms around her and saying "No. it's not bad. You're fine. Just make sure you're comfortable. What kind of person would I be to not let you be comfortable? I mean I am invading your space as it is. I mean I can't be the greatest thing to have to hold in your lap. I mean even a humongous mutated porcupine might be better than…"_

_Quinn brings her index finger to the side of Rachel's face and turns it so that they are looking in each others' eyes._

"_You're fine." She says quietly._

_Rachel blushes and moves her face back to its original position looking at the door. _

"_Ok."_

_Quinn resumes her position cuddling Rachel without a care in the world._

"_What did Finn want?"_

"_What?"_

"_What did Finn want? Why was he being a douche again? Trouble in paradise?"_

"_I broke up with him."_

_Quinn laughs "No you didn't. That's way too out of charac…"_

_Rachel just sits in silence waiting for the disbelief to fade._

"_Well good. He was holding you back."_

_Rachel turns to face Quinn noticing as she turns that their faces are inches apart._

"_Wha… What do you mean?"_

_Quinn giggles breathing a smell of alcohol and berries into her nose. It actually doesn't smell bad surprisingly enough. "You were made for the stage silly goose. He was not. Finn was made for being a mechanic or something else rather mundane and boring."_

"_If he was so boring why were you going after him too?"_

"_Twooooooooooooo reasons."_

"_Ok…"_

_Quinn holds up her index finger to indicate her first reason. "I didn't think I would get out of here, so might as well be with someone who would be able to support me. My parents engrained in my head that being a creepy housewife would ultimately bring me happiness and a whole bunch of other bull."_

_Raising her second finger Quinn trucks on "and twoooooooooooooooo you needed to get out. How would you be able to get out with Finn constantly sabotaging you with love declarations? He isn't what you deserve and what you need to get to where you are destined to be. I mean really. He hurt you more than he helped you."_

_There is silence in the closet while Rachel thinks over what she has just heard. Quinn thinks she is destined to stay in Lima whenever she can do much better. She also is basically sacrificing her life out of Lima so Rachel can leave and live the life they both want._

"_Why would you do that for me?"_

_Quinn shrugs. "If you haven't figured that out by now then I guess you never will."_

"_Oh come on. Give me some sort of hint."_

_Quinn smirks at Rachel making her feel funny. It isn't one of her mean smirks. This one is different. More like a mischievous one that can end up getting someone into trouble. And that someone has almost always been Rachel in the past._

_This time isn't any different._

_Quinn then uses her hand to guide Rachel's face closer and kisses her right on the mouth. No tongue or anything. Just a lingering kiss that surprisingly holds much more passion than any other kiss she has ever felt before. Rachel stays there for a moment as Quinn backs away and they both open their eyes. Rachel then turns around on Quinn's lap so that she can see Quinn more clearly and comfortably. Quinn smiles then and sits back up closing the gap between their bodies and kisses her again, this time more intensely. Rachel wraps her legs around Quinn's waist and parts her lips as Quinn's eagerness begins to envelop her. It is like a contagion that she doesn't know how to stop. The electricity between the two girls seems to be flowing around them with sparks flying into their fingertips as they touch each others' skin. Just then there is a knock on the door causing Rachel to fly backward and away from Quinn. She knocks her head on the door as Quinn sits looking dejected._

"_San, why are you knocking? No one lives in the closet! Well, Aslan does…"_

"_It's a party, B. It's hard to be sure what exactly goes on at these things. Slide the chair over there. It looks like someone thought they would pull a prank and locked some poor saps in here."_

_Just then Santana opens the door causing Rachel to summersault backwards to the tanned girl's feet._

"_Wow, Q. You make quick work. Obviously the closet is ocupada, B."_

"_But they are out of the closet now! Hurray! Can we go in then?"_

"_Don't you think that would be a bit of regression?" Quinn asks with a bit of venom in her voice._

"_Woah woah. Who pissed in your Wheaties?"_

"_Hudson locked us in there." Quinn says shortly._

"_Looks like no time for play Brit. We've got to get Q home before she kills someone."_

"_Would you like to go home with us, Rachel? We could have a sleepover! Can we have a sleepover, San?"_

_Santana sighs with exaggeration and asks Rachel if she would like to spend the night with the three of the Cheerios. Considering the excitement of the night she decides to bail out and go home. Later that night she contemplates her time in the closet with Quinn. It has brought about more questions than answers, but Rachel has to admit that the encounter she had with Quinn that night has been filled with more intellect and emotion than the all of the interactions she has had with Finn combined._

"If there are no other questions I'd like to go back to relaxing on my day off…"

Rachel thinks for just a moment more. If Quinn is bi then why can't she try it out? What would be wrong with them going on a date? They don't have to be in love or anything. If it turns out that she doesn't like girls then that would be the end of it. Maybe if she just asks her it would all be ok. Rachel steals herself, opening her mouth, about to see what Quinn would think if…

"I… I have a question for you."

_Ok bitch,_ Rachel thinks hearing the redhead's voice, _I was about to ask one of the most important questions of the evening but you go and cut me off. Santana will hear about this!_

"Can't this wait?" Quinn asks turning to look at the Ginger instead of Rachel.

"No. It has waited long enough."

_Frick. This can't be good._

"ok…" Quinn said hesitantly.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

_Well fuck._

**A/N: I do not own Glee. I decided to put it down here so I could shed some light on the next few chapters without blabbering in the beginning when you want to read.****These next few chapters have been rather difficult for me. They are not writing in the Quinn/Rachel perspective like they have been so far. You get the perspectives of everyone else in the room first, as well as a couple people outside. Chapter 15 has been especially difficult for me to write which is why I haven't been around for a while, but enough about that. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I'm enjoying writing it. After Chapter 14 posts will most likely be much slower to come by. It all depends on my work schedule and things as to when it gets written.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I do not own Glee. 15 is halfway through and the interactions between 13,14, and 15 have been written so I can now post 13 and 14 :) yay! 15 is still slow-going but I'll get it finished as soon as I can. Thanks for reading. I hope you continue to enjoy it :)**

Mercedes Jones knows anatomy. She knows all of the muscles of the body, including the face. She knows which muscle contracts to move each feature. She knows each bone that the muscle attaches to in order to support itself. She also knows how the brain controls every muscle movement, including the ones that you may not be thinking about.

Studying Quinn Fabray has been helpful to her career. She has made a game of finding out which split second muscle movements Quinn will make before composing herself entirely. Today is not one of the days that she is trying to define muscle movement though.

Mercedes watches as a range of emotions flash quickly throughout the blonde's face in a split second before she composes herself as usual. She is normally slower to compose herself around Mercedes because she is comfortable and knows she does not have to put up a façade. In the end old habits die hard though, and the blonde always put on a neutral expression when telling Mercedes of any issues in her life. Much like the mask she is wearing now. Neutral.

"How about we take some time to all digest what we have heard today?" Mercedes finds herself saying, "Q has finally opened up to her family. Let's give her some time to collect her thoughts before she makes any life altering decisions."

Mercedes turns to look up and down at the girl that initiated Quinn coming out to all of them. She is grateful for finally knowing what was resting on the blonde's shoulders but she is a little weary of someone that would just burst out with the type of question like she did. "I am sure you are a nice person, but if you honestly believe that it is ok to just ask out Quinn Fabray so hastily then you obviously need to learn a little bit about her before you are ready to take the step of dating her. She isn't easy. She is far from it. So take a hint from her sister and wisen up. If you want Quinn then you need to relax and let her come to you. If you can't show her that you are worth her trust then maybe you should re-think some of your choices. Life is not a stage. It is reality. I suggest you come back to it before you screw up what potential you may actually have."

With that Mercedes walks over to where Quinn is sitting stoically and tugs her by the hand and into the blonde's room, leaving the table of people behind.

Mercedes closes the door and watches Quinn frantically looking for something.

"What are you doing?"

"Bunbun. He needs to eat lunch and I need… I just need…"

Mercedes yells out the door for someone in the kitchen to feed Bunbun and closes the door again walking over to the blonde and pulling her into her arms while she begins to break into pieces. They just sit on the floor where they were previously standing while Quinn tries in vain to compose herself.

"I just… how did this happen? Why? What is wrong with me? How could this happen? I tried so hard, Mercedes. So hard. He didn't understand. And he hurt. He hurt really bad. And.. I just couldn't take it. I couldn't be myself anymore. I had to be perfect. I lost her. And now I have her back. But she doesn't want me. Someone else does. And they are nice. Abby is nice. She sings and dances and acts. Did you know that? She volunteers. She cares. She cares so much. But I… I don't know what to do. I do like her. I really do…"

Mercedes just holds the blonde. She rocks back and forth running her fingers through her hair and humming until the tears and rambling stop. The diva isn't able to make heads or tails of what the girl is saying until the blonde can compose herself.

After a few minutes of that Quinn moves off of her lap and sits across from her looking anywhere but at Mercedes.

"Talk." She instructs.

"I don't know what to say. I don't normally do tears."

Mercedes shakes her head. "I know you don't. And it's ok to do them every once in a while. If you don't do that you will seriously combust. Just… talk. About anything. There is nothing I need to know, but just talking helps."

"I want to play dragon age."

Mercedes lifts her eyebrow at the cheerleader.

"I want to be a knight. I have always wanted to be a knight. You know, beat up the bad guys. Save the damsel. Save the world as we know it."

Mercedes nods not exactly sure where Quinn is going with this conversation.

"I wanted to be a knight because I had no control over anything. I wanted to protect people, especially a certain vivacious brunette, but I couldn't. My Dad was not the kindest man. He kept me away from her. It was like he knew I was developing feelings for her and he was afraid of what that meant."

"How long ago are we talking here?"

"I fell for her in Elementary School."

"How did your Dad find out?"

"I was a kid. I would talk about her constantly. I would tell him of our adventures. He would ask 'and what were the four musketeers up to today?' every time I came home. The four musketeers being me, her, Santana, and Brittany."

Mercedes looks into the hazel eyes in front of her that are now trained on the floor between them. They look wistful. Even worse, they look sad.

"One day I asked my dad if we could all have a sleepover together. Our house was too large for everyone in it so the extra space could actually be useful. It also might cause him to not drink that night which was always a bonus. I went to him with a list of reasons why and an argument ready for dissection. He asked for the full names of each of my friends so that he could call their parents and ask after he laughed at my precautions and said yes. Whenever I said Rachel's name he literally hissed at me and stood dangerously still."

Quinn's eyes move to look into Mercedes's and she sees unbridled fear in them. It is as if Quinn is reliving that day.

"He told me to go to my room. It was probably the nicest thing he has ever done to me considering the hole in the wall I found the next day. He sat me down and told me I was to never talk to Rachel again."

"Rachel Berry?"

Quinn lets loose a small tortured smile at the sound of the name. "Yeah. The one and only." Quinn searches in the dark eyes before her for something, but Mercedes doesn't know what for.

"Aren't you disgusted?"

Mercedes cocks her eyebrow, "are you serious? I am surrounded by gays. Why would I be disgusted? Besides, Rachel is my friend too, you know. She can be annoying at times, but I can't help but love her."

Quinn looks down at the floor, "Neither can I." she says quietly.

Mercedes looks at the girl in front of her wishing that she had a way of consoling her, but she doesn't think Rachel is gay. Especially considering how she asked about Finn the Friday that she came over.

"So who is Abigail?"

"You know, Rachel has been asking me that all weekend. Abby is… I don't know how to explain her."

"Well, what do you think of her?"

"I think she is great. She is sweet. A bit possessive, but I am the same way with people so I can't say much there. She genuinely cares about people and about me."

"Then why don't you make things exclusive between the two of you?"

"I wanted to see if there was even a chance that Rachel could return my feelings.

Abby and I just did now get to a point where I was considering making it exclusive between the two of us. I just… something was holding me back. Whenever Rachel came back unexpectedly, I thought that maybe it is God's way of saying that I can make up for my past and that I might actually be able to get what I want for once. I understand that I will have to work for it, that I will have to work to keep her, but I am ok with that. So I decided to wait to figure out things with Abby until I can get a better feel on Rachel again."

Mercedes frowns not knowing what to do or how to help. She hates seeing Quinn so lost, and honestly she doesn't normally open herself up like this to anyone but Brittany or Santana either.

"Does Brittany know about this?"

Quinn nods and looks at the door as if Brittany might burst in at any moment cooing at her about things turning out ok.

"Why don't we talk to her? She might know what to do. Although B can be a piece of work sometimes, she tends to help more than hurt."

Quinn smiles at her before looking around the room for the cell phone in question. The blonde then smacks her forehead in exasperation. "It's on the table."

Mercedes pushes herself up onto her feet and smiles at the blonde below her. "I'll get it."

"Don't say anything mean, Mercedes. She didn't do anything wrong."

"I won't say anything. I've said my piece. I'll just get your phone."

Mercedes walks into the kitchen nonchalantly and spots Quinn's phone at the head of the table. Kurt and Rachel are gone, but Blaine and Abigail are sitting at the table discussing something. They get quiet whenever she is within hearing distance.

"Don't stop your little powwow because of me. I am just here to retrieve a phone." She looks into the redhead's glossy eyes and feels her stomach churn. Maybe she isn't as bad as she originally thought. Maybe there is more to her. Quinn seems to think so.

About to exit the kitchen, Mercedes feels her stomach churn again and groans as she turns back around to look at Abigail.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry if I hurt your feelings. I am not sorry for what I said, though. Take it or leave it."

And with that she walks back into Quinn's room to talk with her and Brittany.

* * *

><p>"MEIRDA! B! Where the hell is your duck?" Santana yells as she stomps into their living room from the bedroom. Brittany can't help but find it cute the way she gets mad and acts like a little kid. The girl is so much like Rachel it is ridiculous, which makes Brittany begin to miss her family in New York. She knows Santana misses them too.<p>

"I miss Rachel, San." Brittany says sadly. She just doesn't understand why they can't all be friends and live in the same state now. Just like old times. "I just don't understand why we can't all be friends again and live in the same state now."

Santana loses all of her anger and sits down in back of the tall blonde on the floor holding her. Brittany prefers to sit on the floor than on the furniture any day. Sometimes she is afraid they will eat her. Quinn's couch is the main reason for that fear. It ate Bunbun once and spit him out an hour later.

"I know, B. Give it some time. Like seriously. You know I'm working on all of this."

"I feel like something bad is happening right now though. I can't shake it."

"Maybe it's something you ate?"

Brittany shakes her head. "It isn't like that. It's like… you know when you and Quinn got into a fight with that guy that gave me free candy on the street?"

Santana's face hardens. "That wasn't candy he was giving you, B."

"Well it made my body feel tingly like really sugary candy. And it made me happy."

"Just remember not to take free candy from anyone that you don't know again."

"I know. You and Q made me promise that a long time ago. Anyway, it's like that. You both got hurt whenever you beat him up. I was at home when you did that though so I couldn't have possibly known about it, but somehow I had a feeling something was wrong. I ran to your house and found you and Quinn smiling but all bloody."

Brittany frowns at the memory of her two friends. They had been so happy, but their blood was everywhere. Quinn had had a cut above her eye near her eyebrow so that blood was running into her eyes causing her to squeeze her eye shut. She also had bruises on her neck and scrapped knees and elbows. Santana looked even worse. She had had a black eye, a busted lip, and bloody knuckles. She had bruises formed around both arms and she was favoring her right leg.

Brittany tries to shake the memory out of her mind by shaking her head. "Something must be wrong."

Santana sighs and gets up ruffling the blonde hair. "Q can take care of herself. Trust me. The only thing in peril today is Ballad because he keeps shitting in the boxes. I can't keep stealing them from work, you know. Breadstix only has so many supply boxes."

"San?" Brittany says looking up at her.

Santana looks down into Brittany's eyes before crouching down to her level to kiss her deeply. "It will be ok. If Q needs either of us she will call."

Just then Santana's phone goes off.

"Oompa Loompa doompadee doo  
>I've got another puzzle for you<br>Oompa Loompa doompadee dee  
>If you are wise you will listen to me<br>Who do you blame when your kid is a brat  
>Pampered and spoiled like a Siamese cat?<br>Blaming the kids is a lion of shame  
>You know exactly who's to blame:<br>The mother and the father!  
>Oompa Loompa doompadee dah<br>If you're not spoiled then you will go far  
>You will live in happiness too<br>Like the Oompa Loompa doompadee do"

Santana kisses her quickly again before she goes over to her phone. "Rachel must have some information on the ginger. Nothing to worry about, ok?"

Brittany decides to get up off the floor and look for her phone in case Quinn is in trouble too. Santana only ruffles her hair when she is worried. That kiss was a worried kiss too. The dark haired dragon should know by now that Brittany understands her well enough to know when something is up.

On her way to her bedstand she sees Lord Tubbington sitting on the windowsill with the window open and cigarette butts spread around him.

"You know better than that!" She scolds him. "You are supposed to keep her away from those! Not smoke them with her! Where is Charity? She is better at this than you."

"SHE DID WHAT? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

"LANGUAGE!" Brittany yells to Santana in the living room. Even if something bad is going on there is still no reason to say words like that. Her mom taught her that.

Brittany aimlessly flits around the room picking up objects and putting them into boxes. Santana doesn't normally like when she helps put things in boxes because she is bad at tetris but she needs something to do until Quinn calls her.

"We gotta find the last pawprint,  
>That's the third clue! We put it in our<br>notebook 'cause they're Blue's clues... who's  
>clues? Blue's clues! You know what to do!"<p>

Brittany scrambles to get to her cell phone and trips over a box literally scaring the crap out of Ballad. At least she found out where he is…

"Sit down in our thinking chair and think... think... thi-i-ink!  
>Cause when we use our minds and take a step at a time,<br>We can do any THING... that we wanna do!"

"QUINN! Are you ok? What's wrong? I told Santana something was up but she wouldn't listen. Are you bleeding everywhere? Please say you're ok."

Brittany hears the chuckling of two girls on the other end of the line.

"I'm alright, B. Relax. No bumps, bruises, or blood. Mercedes is here with me."

Brittany furrows her brow and jumps onto the bed to lie down while talking.

"Where is Rachel? Is she ok?"

"I think she's off with Kurt." Mercedes says.

"You think? How can you not know? Quinn always knows."

"Times are different now, B." Quinn says quietly. Brittany thinks she sounds a little sad.

"What happened? Do you want me to find out where she is for you?"

"How can you find that out?" Mercedes asks.

"Santana is talking to her. I can just ask her. It would only take a second." Brittany sits up about to take a deep breath to scream at the girl in the other room but Quinn catches her before she can.

"NO! No. If S is talking to her then she is fine, I'm sure."

"Are you crazy? Those two hate each other!" Mercedes says making Brittany giggle.

"What are you talking about? We are the four musketeers. We have been best friends since Kindergarten."

"Right…" Mercedes says incredulously.

Brittany feels confused again. How can Mercedes doubt their bond? "Any form of love is complicated, Mercedes. Friendships count too, I think. Santana told me that."

"Don't give me that look. She's right. You know she is."

"I guess I just wasn't expecting something so philosophical."

"Rule number 13. Expect the unexpected." Quinn says.

Brittany can practically hear the mischievous smile on the other end of the phone. She can't wait to be reunited with her family again. That smirk is one of the best parts about Quinn. It comea out spontaneously and normally it means something is about to happen. The next part Quinn says makes it sound like her happiness has vanished though. Like the evil witch has finally caught up to her and she doesn't know where else to turn before she will be turned into a duck munching mutant albatross.

"I have some developments on Abs, B. And Rachel." Quinn sounds strained when she says Rachel's name so Brittany tries to listen as closely as she can. She doesn't want to miss a word. She presses her ear as close to the phone as it can go.

"I'm listening."

"I don't know where to start." Quinn says forlornly with a sigh.

"Why don't you start with Abigail saying how you two are a couple?" Mercedes suggests.

Brittany feels confused. Abby was never Quinn's girlfriend. She would have known. "Abby and Quinn aren't girlfriends. Quinn would have told me. Are we not best friends anymore?"

"No no no. That's not what she meant. Abs just said that we are a couple when we obviously aren't." Quinn hastily corrects.

"But… wait. She thought you and Mercedes are a couple? But aren't you dating Abby?"

There is a groan on the other end of the phone which makes Brittany even more lost. If they would just be more specific with their details then she won't have to ask questions. "You know, I would understand better if you were more specific in your story."

"Sorry, B. Abs came in and told everyone that Abigail and me are a couple and not just dating."

"Ohhhhhh." Brittany frowns. "Was Rachel there?"

"Yeah. So was everyone else that lives with us."

"Us as in you and Rachel? You guys finally made up and shared sweet lady kisses and had sex with feelings?" Brittany yells to Santana "SAAAAAAAAAANNNN! YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT I JUST FOUND OUT! QUINN AND RACHEL HAD…"

"NO BRITTANY!"

Brittany frowns again. "What did I get wrong this time?"

"Ok. How about you ask questions once I am finished talking, ok? Maybe I'll answer your questions while I tell my story. You know, like in school."

Brittany nods but then realizes that she can't be seen and affirms verbally that it is a good idea.

"Alright. So Abs came in and told Mercedes, Blaine, Kurt, and Rachel that her and I are a couple. Then there was a whole fiasco in which everyone was yelling at me while we all sat around the table. When I noticed Rachel hadn't spoken up yet, I looked for her and found out she wasn't there. I left the room and found her in my bedroom with Bunbun. We then talked about stuff and how I liked her as a kid."

"Did you tell her you like her now?" Brittany asks.

"Well. No. Not exactly. But how can she not know I like her? I told her a lot about me. I told her about elementary school."

"How much did you tell her?"

"Enough for her to understand that I never intended on leaving her."

Brittany frowns. "Did you tell her that you still love her?"

"I… no."

"Did you ask her out on a date?"

"No."

"Then you still have a chance." Brittany smiles. Really, how could Quinn be so silly?

"She told me she is straight."

Brittany shrugs. "Well she is lying. She doesn't realize she is lying, but she is."

"What?" Mercedes and Quinn ask simultaneously.

"The point I am trying to make is that I know our little songbird. You have a chance. I do not think that you should take it right now though. You need to stop."

"What?" Quinn asks.

"I think Brit is trying to say you need to take a break from relationships. You need to figure out who you are before you can figure out who suits you best for the lifestyle you have. You just did meet up with Rach again. You have a lot more to learn about each other before you should be thinking about exclusively dating. You might want to learn a bit more about Abigail too. You seem to have her pretty far wrapped around your finger. There are other options out there for you to love besides them as well. You need to see who you are before you can find that person who will be your missing puzzle piece."

Brittany drops her phone to clap and then picks it back up. "Yes! What Mercedes said!"

"Besides, you are trying to go pretty fast with Rachel currently." Mercedes continues.

"Yeah. Like racecar fast." Brittany interjects.

"If Rachel really isn't so straight then she needs time to accept who she is too."

"Vroooooooooom!"

"So you are both telling me that my plan of action from here on out is a plan of inaction?" Quinn asks.

"You mean OUR plan. You think Brit and I are just going to leave you hanging? This sounds way too entertaining for us not to get involved in."

"Yayyy! So you both will let me know?"

"Of course, B. You both need to remember that I need to do some things on my own, though."

"Of course, of course!" Mercedes hastily says squee-ing at the thought of a plan in progress.

"Ok, Well we should go and try to get things back to normal, ok Brittany? I have been itching to play videogames all day and I was interrupted by some chaos."

"Sounds good to me! I love you both! Tell everyone else over there than San and I miss and love them!"

The trio hangs up the phone and Brittany walks out of the room feeling a little lighter.

She sits next to Santana on the couch. The girl is pinching the bridge of her nose as if she has a headache developing. "What's wrong?"

"Why did you put up with me as a baby lesbian, B?"

Brittany gives San a confused look "Because sex is fun and worth the workout? Also you are just so cute when you get mad or flustered."

Santana shakes her head "I have a feeling things around here are about to pick up."

Brittany frowns again. "I seem to be frowning a lot today. A couple more weeks until we can fix everything, right?"

Santana nods and wraps her hands around Brittany's waist.

"A couple more weeks."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I do not own Glee. Also there is some violence in this chapter.**

Kurt loves drama. That is the main thing that Rachel and Kurt have in common, their love of a good story. Of course he prefers the stories with the main character played by none other than himself. Any character will suit him. He has played the damsel, the knight, even the villain before in his own stories.

But this time the story isn't his. Well not entirely anyway.

Kurt looks to his right and finds a slightly catatonic Quinn Fabray. By the way she is looking like a lost little sheep, Kurt infers that she probably did not intend for the person that asked such a question to be Ab-licious or whatever her name is.

To the left, at the other end of the table, is an even more hilarious scene. Rachel Berry practically has unhinged her jaw allowing for flies and Semi trucks to explore the newly exposed scenery. _Wait._

_Wait._

_Oh. This is perfect._

If the newly composed scowl says anything, Rachel Berry is in love with Quinn Fabray. He would know a scowl like that anywhere. He actually has given that same scowl to Rachel years ago whenever he saw she was pursuing Finn Hudson.

He should get some popcorn.

No. No. He can't let Rachel go through that heartbreak. If the numerous dates of Quinn Fabray are any indication, Quinn still doesn't know what she wants in a person. Hell, she might not even like Rachel for as much as she tormented her in high school. As much as Kurt adores drama, he knows better than to let Rachel jump into things all over again.

_We will need a plan first._

Kurt smirks at that thought. By the time he is finished with Rachel, Quinn Fabray will be officially wooed and off the market for that red haired harpy across the table.

As Mercedes makes her speech and pulls Quinn up, Kurt nudges Blaine in the side.

"Hey. I need to help Rachel with… something. Can you keep an eye on Abigail and be a good host?" Kurt turns quickly to Abigail and smiles a quick smile.

"Uhm, yeah. Sure." Blaine says eyeing Kurt obviously thinking that he is up to something. Honestly it is rather offensive. He is only trying to help out a friend for once. If this causes him some form of entertainment in the long run then it is just an added perk.

As Kurt rises from his seat as Mercedes yells into the kitchen from Quinn's room for someone to feed Bunbun. It is then that the tension rises to a suffocating level.

Both of the girls at the table jump up scratching their chairs on the floor with worried looks. Whenever they hear the chair of the other one they end up staring at each other with blank expressions.

"uhm. Would you… would you mind if… I just haven't been around him since I last took care of him and…" Abigail is practically stuttering at Rachel.

Rachel just stands there blankly for a moment.

"I mean, if you want to take care of him, that's fine. That's perfectly alright."

"Abigail, go get Bunbun, Rachel, go start making his food. Staring blankly into the room is of benefit to no one and personally I wouldn't want to upset _Quinn_." Kurt orders. Something has to be done, and Rachel needs to wake up anyway.

Rachel turns to look at him with a confused expression most likely due to the emphasis he put on Quinn's name.

"I knew a certain part of that sentence might get your attention. Hop to it."

Rachel narrows her eyes at the tiny male and goes over to do what she was asked. As Rachel makes the food Kurt walks over to assist her, assist meaning sit on the counter and gossip with, as Blaine plays with Bunbun and Abigail.

"How can I just now remember that I like her, Kurt?" Rachel asks in probably the tiniest whisper ever known to mankind.

"Sometimes it just happens that way. Love happens in crazy ways. How long have you liked her exactly?"

"Since the moment I laid eyes on her in Kindergarden." Rachel says moving her eyes that were staring blankly into the mixing pot to Kurt. "I don't know what to do."

"I feel like there is an obvious answer to this, Rachel. You fight for your love, just as you always have." Kurt says smiling in admiration. He has always found her ambition toward success in all areas to be inspiring no matter how obnoxious. It is a little odd to see the brunette less self-assured.

"but… she already won, didn't she?"

"Our blonde hasn't said yes yet. You still have a chance." Kurt stops talking and jumps down from the counter to stand by Rachel just as he hears Abigail and Blaine move closer to check in on the bunny's version of baby formula.

Blain rests his head on Kurt's shoulder to get a better view of the pot. "It looks like it's done. Abby and I can finish up here if you want to… go for a walk? When Quinn and Mercedes come back we will call you and we can figure out some lunch for you two to pick up? Maybe a meal will calm some tensions." Blaine backs up but not before kissing Kurt's cheek and resting his hand on Kurt's lower back.

"Sounds like a good idea to me…"

Rachel just keeps standing there, stirring the formula. Kurt pinches her rear end making her squeak and turn around glaring at him. "What was that for? That isn't yours."

"I don't see anyone's name on the property so it's free game." Kurt says sticking his tongue out at her. "Let's go." He then grabs her hand and basically drags the shorter girl out of the room.

"Just remember to call us when you need us to pick up food!" Kurt says in a happy voice as he searches through Quinn's wallet for 20 dollars and grabs two jackets.

"That's Quinn's!"

"Rachel. Quinn would insist on paying anyway. I will pay her back in millions of royalties when I am famous."

"That's still not right Kurt!" She says as they make their way down the stairs of the apartment complex.

"Seriously. I will pay her back. Just chill for a moment, Rachel."

They walk around in aimless silence for a while until they find a park bench to sit on.

"So. Quinn, eh?" Kurt asks nudging Rachel in the side.

"Yeah, but—Oh look! Oh my gosh!" Rachel springs to her feet all of the sudden running from Kurt to the teeter totters where a couple of kids are playing. Kurt gets up and followed her slowly in case he has to explain to their parents who the insane person playing with their kids is.

"Rachel!" The two girls playing say in unison! They seriously look like carbon copies of a young Rachel and Quinn. The little Rachel walks off of the totter while she is on the ground leaving the little Quinn to fall to the ground with a thump.

"Oh-my-gosh-I'm-so-sorry-Dianna!-I-really-didn't-mean-to!-I'm-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so—"

"It's ok", the little Quinn says going over to the little Rachel comforting her with a hug, "You were just excited."

She definitely seems more relaxed then a young Quinn. Kurt wonders mildly if things would have been different for Quinn if she had grown up in this city with a different set of parents.

The little Rachel, on the other hand, is a ball of energy talking 500 miles an hour.

Rachel scoops up the little Quinn into a hug cooing sap at her, causing Kurt to feel like he is seeing into the future about 5 years from now.

"You're in love with Quinn." Kurt says again as Rachel holds the blonde on her hip hugging the little brunette to her side.

"This doesn't really seem like the place to talk about this."

"Who are you?" The tiny Rachel points at him standing in an authoritative stance. "You are making Rachel upset."

"I assure you I am not the one making her upset. An evil succubus is."

"My mommy says suck is a bad word." The little Quinn says quietly looking at Rachel.

"That's because it is. She's right. Kurt is talking about a character from Greek mythology. Hmmm.. It basically is a type of monster from a country far away from here." Rachel says explaining to her before glaring at Kurt. "And she isn't a succubus… She might be nice."

Kurt lets go a tiny incredulous noise before getting yelled at by the spitfire little Rachel again.

"You still haven't told me your name."

"Kurt Hummel." He says reaching out to her for a handshake. "I am Rachel's friend, one of her best friends actually. And who are you, little princess?"

"I am Lea and that is Dianna." She says pointing to the blonde sucking her thumb while cuddling into Rachel's chest. "And you aren't her very best friend. Quinn is."

"Oh really?" He says moving toward the swings with the three girls. "And how do you figure that?"

"Because Quinn loves her of course." Lea says hopping up onto the swing in front of Kurt ordering him to push her with her eyes just as Rachel sits on the swing next to her with Dianna on her lap.

"How do you know that?" Rachel asks her as she swings carefully keeping Dianna locked safely in her arms as Kurt gives Lea a push.

"She gives her that look that my Daddy gives my Mommy, and they are in love. She also took Rachel with her when she left yesterday. She never does that with Abby." Lea says happily swinging and humming.

"Abby?" Kurt asks.

"She comes in whenever the other lady can't be there. Quinn really likes Abby too. But she is in love with Rachel."

"Why Rachel and not Abby?" Kurt prods again.

"I just TOLD you. She gives her the LOOK. Duh."

"I apologize for asking such a silly question." Kurt says raising his hands in mock surrender making Rachel laugh.

"So, do you like her back?" Dianna asks quietly.

"I… I don't know how much I like her. I do like her back, but I don't know how much. I just… I just now realized…"

Dianna kisses her cheek and nuzzles into Rachel further. "It's ok. Sometimes love is scary."

"Yeah." Rachel says. "Sometimes it is."

"So what is your plan of action?" Kurt asks carefully pushing Lea higher who in effect keeps singing a higher note every time she reaches a new height.

"I… I don't know. We need to bring in the big guns here."

"As in…?"

"I need to call Santana."

* * *

><p><em>Hmmm. What could they store at Momma Maddie's house? The old fish tank could go there.<em> Santana thinks as she wraps the tank in bubble wrap. She is about to put it carefully into a box whenever she trips over her shoe causing the tank to fall out of her hands and land safely on her toes. "Fuck that's smart." She says quietly in pain flopping to the floor cradling her foot leaning around looking for her misplaced shoe.

Looking over about three feet away she sees her new work sneakers that she has dubbed as the miracle shoes because it is like walking on the clouds of heaven. She carefully walks over and picks it up to put it away in the closet when she notices the certifiable duck bill marks in the seam between the leather and the rubber.

Her shoe from the Gods above have been chewed.

"MEIRDA! B! Where the hell is your duck?" Santana yelled as she stomps into the living room no longer feeling the pain in her foot due to her fury. She told B that a duck isn't a good idea. Did she listen to Santana? OF COURSE NOT.

_- Sophomore Year, Santana's house-_

"_If I show you something, will you promise not to get mad?"_

_If there is anything Brittany can say to upset her it normally starts with this line. Santana takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders. She will not give in this time. She always gives in. _

"_I can't do that B, you know that, but I will try not to. What happened?"_

"_I was at the park with Bret since it was sibling Saturday, right?"_

"_Yes…" Santana says, crossing her arms waiting for the moment she will have to say no._

"_I found this." Brittany says as she opens her jacket and reveals a tiny blood stained duckling in the inside pocket._

"_You're kidding. This isn't a good idea, B."_

"_His mom was trying to hurt him. I don't know why…"_

"_He's the runt. Mother animals sometimes do that to their children as a sort of mercy kill. They know they won't make it in the real world so they kill them. It's like natural selection or something." As soon as she says it she knew she shouldn't have. Tears began to flow from B's eyes causing Santana to instantly want to kick her own ass._

"_Not all moms do it, B. He just had a mean mom. I must have been wrong. I don't know what I'm talking about. I just saw it on the discovery channel and they weren't talking about ducks so maybe I was wrong…"_

"_No" Brittany says trying to contain her tears as Santana rubs her cheeks underneath her eyes catching the ones that run loose. "You're right. Animal Planet says stuff like that too. I just… Should we kill it if it won't live?"_

"_No no no. We will keep it. It will be alright. We will take care of it, ok? He will be ok. Don't be upset." Santana takes the duckling out of the blonde's pocket and walks into the bathroom to wash it off in the sink. She then begins to run the tub water to let the little duckling have a place to play in and sets it down in the tub. He limps a bit when he walks and he has a cut on his head, but otherwise he seems alright._

"_What will we name him?" Brittany asks cheerfully. It is always like that with Brittany. As soon as there is a resolution to something she takes it and accepts it. She rarely looks at the past, and for that Santana is glad. She doesn't have a lot of things in her past that she has found worth contemplation._

"_I think the real question is what we are going to do with him."_

"_We could always talk to Rachel…"_

"_No, B. We can't. That's not how it works quite yet. Not now. We can be minor acquaintances but we just have to watch in the shadows and stop as many slushies as possible. You, me, and Q, will always take the blame for them. If Rachel thinks we are her friends again everything would go out of balance in that school. I need to protect you too."_

"_We need to protect Rachel, Santana. This isn't right to leave her behind."_

"_We aren't. We joined that stupid Glee Club for her. What else can we do? Just… I have to say no on this one. We can't talk to Rachel. It isn't the right time."_

_That particular argument has been happening a lot recently between the two girls. She never knows what the best course of action on that is either._

"_We can keep him in our secret spot behind the playground, ok? We will take good care of him." Santana assures the blonde._

"_I want to name him Ballad."_

"_Why Ballad?"_

"_He reminds me of Rachel."_

_Santana chuckles. "Yeah. Tiny, scrappy, and a pain in my ass to take care of."_

"_And he's a secret."_

"_Yes, and he's a secret."_

"I miss Rachel, San." Brittany says looking upset. "I just don't understand why we can't all be friends again and live in the same state now."

Santana frowned and sits behind Brittany gathering her into her arms. It is weird how Brittany can feel the same thing she is feeling no matter what is going on.

"I know, B. Give it some time. Like seriously. You know I'm working on all of this." She says.

And she has been working on it. She took up some extra hours at Breadstix to pay for everything and she is going to hand in her two weeks' notice when the time was right. She and Brittany have found the perfect place to make their own dance studio. They just have to purchase it and keep an eye on it before anyone else can swoop in and take it. Santana has been going to the local school for some business classes so that she can run it and Brittany has been taking classes for dance. They are planning on moving to a different school closer to where their potential dance studio is, actually. They just have to make the money first. With all the extra payments for their animals and helping out Santana's family with their monetary concerns, it has been a tough road so far. They are slowly making it to the point where they have always dreamed of being at though, Brittany with her dance studio and Santana with Brittany.

Brittany is upset that Santana doesn't want anything more than being with Brittany though, so she had promised her that she would broaden her horizons once they transfer into the other school.

"I feel like something bad is happening right now though. I can't shake it."

"Maybe it's something you ate?" Santana asks seriously.

Brittany shakes her head in response. "It isn't like that. It's like… you know when you and Quinn got into a fight with that guy that gave me free candy on the street?"

Santana immediately tenses at that thought. Yeah. That douche had given her girl ecstasy in hopes that he would be able to have his way with her.

"That wasn't candy he was giving you, B."

"Well it made my body tingly like really sugary candy. And it made me happy."

"Just remember not to take candy from anyone that you don't know again." Santana says seriously.

She had gone back with Q later the next day and beat the shit out of him. No one messes with Brittany. It doesn't matter what age they happen to be, that is the one rule she has ever lived by. Quinn is the same way. They were put on this earth to protect their girls.

"I know. You and Q made me promise that a long time ago. Anyway, it's like that. You both got hurt whenever you beat him up. I was at home when you did that though, so I couldn't have possibly known about it, but somehow I had a feeling that something was wrong. I ran to your house and found you and Quinn smiling but all bloody."

Santana can't help but smile slightly at that memory: Her and Q, only about 15 at the time, beating up a 30 year old man.

"_Who the fuck do you think you are?" Santana says to the older man in front of her. She is going blind with rage. All she can think about is how he nearly had touched her girl. Brittany is hers. Not someone else's. Especially not someone who will hurt her._

_The older man raises his eyebrow. He is taller than both her and Q, but they stand their ground. It is still two against one, and they are out for vengeance. "Get out of here before I call your parents."_

_Quinn raises her eyebrow and spits in his face. "Sorry. I just felt a little sick."_

_That is when the fun starts. He lobs his large fist at Quinn, but with all of their sparing practices with each other she is ready. The blonde ducks, but is barely fast enough because he nicks her eyebrow with his ring as he flies past her. The two girls stand there waiting for him to keep lunging. If he tires himself out they can lay a couple punches and then go home. They just want to give him black eyes to warn others to stay away._

_This time he goes for Santana, but she isn't ready for him to be that fast and she gets hit square in the eye. This makes her pissed. The only one that is supposed to have black eye is the douche in front of her. She punches him in the side but he ignores her and returns his attention to Quinn lifting her up by the neck._

"_You're a Fabray aren't you? Your Daddy isn't here to protect you. I wonder how he would feel if you came home like this?" He says throwing punches into Quinn as she claws at his hands to let her go so she can breathe._

_Santana then tries to go to her friend's aide by punching him in the jugular. He turns around back handing the girl in the face, effectively pushing her to the ground giving her a busted lip and scrapped hands and knees. She jumps up and repeatedly pounds into his body with her fists screaming at him to let Quinn go. He flings her away by the arms a few times hoping to get her to stop._

_Eventually she hits him in the groin, finally coming to her senses, and he goes out like a light in pain. They both give him one black eye each and go home, Santana limping, but both girls sporting the largest smiles on their faces. Santana's mom will be proud that night. That's for sure._

"Something must be wrong." Brittany says a second later.

Santana sighs and gets up ruffling the blondes hair. She is nervous but doesn't want to show Brittany she is. She always feels Brittany's hair to calm her down. If she can hide her nerves by ruffling the blonde hair, then that's normally what she does. "Q can take care of herself. Trust me. The only thing in peril today is Ballad because he keeps shitting in my boxes." Brittany doesn't have to know about her shoes. She would be equally upset and feel even worse than she does now. "I can't keep stealing them from work, you know. Breadstix only has so many supply boxes."

"San?" Brittany says looking up at her with those eyes that read her like an open book. It really isn't any fair.

Santana crouches down to the blonde's level to kiss her deeply in hopes of making their worries subside a bit. "It will be ok. If Q needs either of us she will call."

Just then Santana's phone goes off.

"Oompa Loompa doompadee doo  
>I've got another puzzle for you<br>Oompa Loompa doompadee dee  
>If you are wise you will listen to me<br>Who do you blame when your kid is a brat  
>Pampered and spoiled like a Siamese cat?<br>Blaming the kids is a lion of shame  
>You know exactly who's to blame:<br>The mother and the father!  
>Oompa Loompa doompadee dah<br>If you're not spoiled then you will go far  
>You will live in happiness too<br>Like the Oompa Loompa doompadee do"

Santana kisses Brittany quickly before acting as if she isn't concerned. "Rachel must have some information on the ginger. Nothing to worry about, ok?"

"The Pez."

"Why hello there Santana. I am here with Kurt."

"AND ME! AND DIANNA! SAY HI DIANNA!"

There is a quiet mumble on the other end of the line.

"What… did you and Hummel have munchkin children?"

"What? No! Of course not!"

"Well it's not like Q can get you preggers, Rach."

"Did she just call you Rach?" Porcelain askes incredulously.

"Got a problem with that Miss Congeniality?"

"Is that supposed to be offensive Santana? You have mellowed with time. It must be the even higher amounts of exposure to Brittany."

Santana mumbles trying to change the subject before saying, "Why have the people of Munchkin land graced me with their presence anyway? Is there anything up?"

"Well… Abigail proposed a courtship with Quinn and I don't know what to do."

"SHE DID WHAT? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

"LANGUAGE!" Brittany yells at her from the other room.

She can hear the chuckles on the other end of the line and shakes her head.

"My mommy doesn't let me say that word!" One talkative childlike voice says.

"Well your mommy isn't around, now is she?" Santana says annoyed. _Seriously. Why are there children on the other end of the phone?_ Quinn may love kids but Santana wants nothing more to do with them. She has enough siblings that she had to take care of as a kid.

"She is over there on the bench watching us all play!"

"Why don't you run over to your mommy then and let the adults talk?"

"You're a meanie face!" The kid yells.

"Not the first time I've heard that one…"

"You two probably really should go though. We kept you out playing long enough. Kurt and I have to leave and talk to the meanie face."

"Oh. Ok. Goodbye Rachel. Will we see you Saturday?"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss time to see all of you for the world!"

Santana makes a puking noise on the other end of the phone making Kurt laugh.

"So what did Q say whenever Adeline dropped the bomb?"

"She just kind of stared." Kurt says. "Rachel did the same, only she was clearly trying to be more productive by keeping her mouth wide open. It was like she was an alligator just waiting for its prey to walk right on in to be dinner."

Santana hears a slap. "Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Alright children. So Q didn't give her an answer. How do you feel about Q, Rachel?"

"I… I want to try things. I want to go on a date with her and see how things go, but I don't know how to woo Quinn. I mean, she's Quinn Fabray for God's sake."

Santana leans back on the couch. "Just be your usual harpy self silly."

"How do lesbians even woo someone? How do they even, you know, have sex? What if I'm not a lesbian? What if I just have an admiration of Quinn and I don't really like her like that and I break her heart? What if she doesn't even like me?"

"Woah woah woah. Slow your roll there Streisand. K.I.S.S. it."

"Wha—what?"

"Keep It Simple Stupid. It's an acronym. Don't think about what you are. What do you feel? Do you feel anything for Q?"

"Yes." Rachel says instantly and with resolution. "Maybe. I don't know. What if I don't?"

"Your gut says yes. I think you might just be gay for Fabray, songbird."

Kurt makes a choking noise that Santana ignores. "Now you just have to tell her and you will be a shoe in. It doesn't matter what you are. It's what you feel. And if you feel something for her then you should explore it." She continues.

"What if she doesn't like me back?"

"Are you kidding?" Kurt asks "I have done a lot of contemplation while you two were talking, and I am pretty sure she has personally taken care of you since she joined Glee Club. Also, she totally used to check out your legs and assets whenever you wore those short skirts now that I think about it."

"But Abby has already asked her to be her girlfriend." Rachel says wearily.

"You'll just have to show her you are in this to win it. Just make sure she knows that you are in this competition for her too. Talk to her. Lord knows you are good at that, Berry. Just ask her on a date or something and then she will know and you will get your foot in the door to let the games begin. Just don't forget to stay on your toes. None of us know this harlot that well yet. She might have something up her sleeves."

"Hey, she's not a harlot. At least I don't think she is…"

"Don't worry. Blaine is talking to her currently so we won't have much to worry about there. We will know her steps before she takes them. We will win this battle." Kurt assures the girls.

"This isn't a battle, guys…" Rachel begins to speak.

"Awesome. Just don't forget to let me know how things go. If you need any ideas for how to win her over, I'm the gal to talk to. Good luck kids!" Santana says hanging up the phone and pinching the bridge of her nose to relieve her headache. She could hear Rachel about to object to Kurt and Santana helping and she really doesn't feel like arguing.

She isn't going to figure out a course of action for Rachel quite yet, at least not until she talks to Brittany a bit to clear her head. She will probably call Rachel a little later to see what her and Hummel come up with and either shoot it down entirely or come up with a way to enhance it. No one knows her Q like Santana, except for maybe Brittany.

So Rachel just finds out she likes Quinn after how long? She shakes her head trying not to laugh at that thought. Rachel seems insanely nervous, too. As long as Santana can keep the girl from proclaiming her love to Quinn so quickly and brashly by doing something stupid like making rainbow calendars, Rachel might have a shot with the blonde.

Back in the day Rachel wouldn't have needed to try though, but now with this Anbesol character she will have to work for Q. The blonde has really taken a liking to Alfred, even defending her whenever Santana talks smack about her.

Well at least she and B will be leading a more interesting life for a while, not that either of them need more issues to throw their time frame off course. Maybe she should shoot a text to Rachel to tell her not to go too crazy…

"What's wrong?" The tall comfortable figure to her side asks.

"Why did you put up with me as a baby lesbian, B?" The confused lost puppy sound was enough to make her slightly annoyed but it honestly only makes Santana want to protect Rachel even more. Also baby lesbians just seem to be slightly incompetent, not knowing how to handle things. It is like teaching a hominid how to walk gracefully. Of course Rachel could always be bi or a pansexual as well…

"Because sex is fun and worth the workout? Also you are just so cute when you get mad or flustered."

Santana shakes her head. "cute" isn't her word choice for the evening.

"I have a feeling things around here are about to pick up."

Santana looks at Brittany as she frowns again. "I seem to be frowning a lot today. A couple more weeks until we can fix everything, right?"

Santana nods and wraps her hands around Brittany's waist.

"A couple more weeks." Hopefully.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: I do not own Glee**

Blaine seems to be the only one in the room not confused by the question that has been asked by the redhead in front of him. Her eyes are wide with concern and he can tell that she is holding onto Quinn's every breath for a reaction, any reaction. Blaine remembers moments like this in his own life with terrifying accuracy. Of course, waiting on a reaction from a girl you are dating to see if it is time to make things exclusive is completely different than waiting on a reaction from your conservative father to see if he will be ok with the boy you brought home.

Before Quinn can give Abigail a solid reaction, though, Mercedes rises like a phoenix from the ashes of the tension and exudes calm and order. "How about we take some time to digest what we have heard today? Q has finally opened up to her family. Let's give her some time to collect her thoughts before she makes any life altering decisions."

As much as Blaine agrees with this plan of action he can't help but pity the redhead. She deserves an answer, or at least a break from the tension she is feeling. She just laid her heart on the line and now it will linger between the two girls until Quinn picks it up or accidentally treads on it.

"Hey. I need to help Rachel with…something. Can you keep an eye on Abigail and be a good host?" Kurt says suddenly drawing Blaine's attention.

"Uhm, yeah. Sure."He says hesitantly in response. He had a feeling something Kurt would want them to split their attentions, but he thought the boy would want to interrogate Abigail on her intentions. This turn of events can only be trouble. Blaine rubs the back of his neck with the palm of his hand in thought wondering how intense the repercussions for Kurt's schemes will be this time around.

His thoughts are interrupted by Mercedes' booming voice informing the house of Bunbun's empty stomach. It is then that a sound of scraping chairs echoes around the room, thickening the tension rather than allowing it to disperse. The two girls stare at each other, neither seeming to know what to say or do. It is Abigail who ends up breaking the silence.

"Uhm. Would you… would you mind if… I just haven't been around him since I last took care of him and…" Abigail trails off at the end of her thoughts not really distinguishing what she wants through words but with her eyes. They are still wide and fearful. She is like a lost baby doe not knowing which direction to take to find her way to safety.

"I mean, if you want to take care of him, that's fine. That's perfectly alright." The emerald eyed girl says looking away from Rachel and at the table. Abigail may be the taller girl, but the personality that dominates is clearly Rachel's.

The next thing the dark haired boy registers is Kurt standing up next to him ordering everyone in the room to take some form of action. It is actually kind of… arousing actually. "Abigail, go get Bunbun; Rachel, go start making his food. Staring blankly into the room is of benefit to no one and personally I wouldn't want to upset Quinn."

Blaine walks around the table to get to Abigail and lends her an arm to escort her into the living room where they find Bunbun laying peacefully on the couch. He watches as the girl, instead of sitting on the couch, sits on the floor in front of the animal and starts whispering. The dark haired boy walks around the couch and crouches next to the girl.

"So how did you two meet?"

Abigail looks up at him perplexedly. "Of whom are you speaking?"

"You and the little guy." He says with a timid smile. Blaine knows he shouldn't ask any deep questions right now. He needs to get to know the girl first before he can pass judgment on whether or not she and Quinn are suited for one another.

"Oh." Abigail turns her eyes to focus on Bunbun as she talks, keeping her expression neutral. "I work at my brother's rescue shelter. People bring in animals that they don't want or we rescue animals we find and bring them in. We fix them all up and allow people to adopt them once they are good as new."

"That doesn't sound like it would turn much of a profit."

Abigail shrugs and looks up at Blaine for further explanation "We aren't out for profit. Or he isn't anyway. We don't exactly need any extra money." She looks down at Bunbun and brings her hand out for him to sniff. She then gently begins to pet him as he nuzzles into the sleeve her flannel overshirt.

"Anyway, I saved this little guy from animal control. He was attacking them as if he were in a Monty Python movie. Once they caught him they began to talk about whether or not to euthanize him. I told them about our shelter and I suggested that we see if we can help him before we jump to conclusions…"

Blaine watches as Abigail's demeanor changes from neutral to a darker expression before her story continues on.

"Eventually, with Quinn's contacts and our funding we were able to find out how to help the little guy as well as gain a glimpse into his past. Long story short his life wasn't all that great before we found him. He instantly took a liking to Quinn though, and wouldn't leave her alone every time she was in the shelter. Whenever people would ask to adopt him I was too afraid to let him go because of his precise needs. As soon as Quinn noticed my hesitance she decided to take him in to give me some peace of mind. Every once in a while she brings him into the shelter so I can see him," Abigail says picking up the bunny and giving him a small Mohawk with a smile, "but that hasn't happened for a few weeks now."

It seems like every time a smile starts to form on her face something holds it back. Blaine is curious as to why, but then remembers why she is here in the first place.

"Why hasn't Quinn been around in a while?"

"I don't know. I do know that Bunbun needs to be fed now, though." The girl says walking with purpose toward Rachel and Kurt. Blaine looks over at the two by the concoction and walks a little quicker over before Abigail can get there in case Kurt was saying something she shouldn't be hearing. Knowing Kurt he probably has been gossiping the entire time.

The shorter man then sneaks up behind Kurt and lays his chin on the tiny shoulder of his love to see how the cooking is coming along. "It looks like it's done. Abby and I can finish up here if you want to…" _what would be the best course of action for them to do in order to get some real privacy? Oh!_ "… go for a walk? When Quinn and Mercedes come back we will call you and we can figure out some lunch for you two to pick up? Maybe a meal will calm some tensions."

Blaine wants to pat himself on the back for the quick thinking. He puts on his dapper smile and kisses Kurt's cheek; only noticing how perfect his hand feels against Kurt's lower back when the contact is lost. He watches Kurt as the boy walks away, now hyper aware of how well the man fills out his designer jeans and shakes his head. This is definitely not the time to be thinking about… that.

Bouncing in place for a moment to psych himself up to get ready to make a new friend, he turns to Abigail who is now standing in a stance much like Rachel had been; staring with melancholy into the concoction while stirring on auto-pilot.

"Why don't we have a seat while it cooks?" He says guiding Abby to the closest seat.

"I really screwed up didn't I?" Abigail whispers sadly looking forlornly at Blaine. He can tell that she has been holding back everything for a while now and Blaine has given her an opportunity to let loose a little.

"Well, I don't know…"

The two are then interrupted by Mercedes walking into the kitchen.

"Don't stop your little powwow because of me. I am just here to retrieve a phone."

Blaine trains his eyes on Abigail who keeps her head down low trying to avoid the eyes of the other girl. He wonders what he should even say to something like that. He doesn't think she screwed up… he just thinks she got a little over-eager. Why she got over-eager isn't something he understands yet though.

Before Mercedes exits the kitchen entirely she turns back around to face Abigail.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry if I hurt your feelings. I am not sorry for what I said, though. Take it or leave it."

And with that she walks back towards Quinn's door. Abigail in turn sinks lower in her seat and rests her forehead on the table, seeming to suppress a groan.

"How about we take your mind off of it and see how the food is cooking?" Blaine asks bouncing back up out of the chair.

Abigail gives him a weak smile before continuing her original position of stirring of the pot like a zombie.

He then raises his finger in the air dramatically with an idea and picks up the floppy eared bunny that is now scratching at the door that Kurt and Rachel have exited out of.

"Come on little bunny buddy. It's time to get some nom noms!" He whispers enthusiastically. The bunny just looks up at him and nibbles on his sleeve in response.

Blaine then sneaks up behind Abby, who is currently taking the pot off of the stove, and holds Bunbun's nose to her ear. In hindsight this probably isn't the best course of action to do to anyone without prior announcement.

The dark haired man watches as Abigail dances like an undesirable creature has started crawling from her shoulder down to her feet. She ends up dropping the pot which Blaine thankfully catches in time so that the contents don't spill everywhere, but Bunbun is nowhere to be seen. He must have jumped out of his hands in all of the chaos. Blaine, trying to contain his laughter at the scene, tries to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, Abby. I didn't realize how much it would spook you."

Abigail nods holding a hand to her chest and smiles a little. "It was kind of funny though, wasn't it? I could have sworn the rat got out of her cage again and decided to come say hi." She begins laughing and pats Blaine on the shoulder. "You have a good arm on you though. Baseball?"

Blaine smiles a little sheepishly at the floor. "My Dad forced me into it as a kid. I guess it's just old reflexes coming out to play."

Abigail smiles again, this time much more easily and looks around the room. "Bunbun has been spooked somethin' fierce though. I'll go look for him if you put his food in a bottle?"

"Somethin' fierce?" Blaine asks raising an eyebrow. "Where exactly are you from?"

Abigail blushes as red as her hair. "I've been having a My Little Pony marathon recently… I guess AppleJack's demeanor is catching." She mumbles quietly. "If you tell anyone that I swear I'll…"

"Attack me with a carebear stare?" Blaine says laughing only to get hit in the shoulder.

"Just go and get the bottle ready, alright?" Abigail mumbles as she leaves the room where Blaine is chuckling to himself. Maybe this one would actually be good for Quinn. She seems alright enough. If anything she seems like the one that is hurt, not Quinn. Maybe they both just need to be guided in the right direction. Either way, all of their actions from here on out depend on the blonde. If anything it will make for some interesting times to come.

* * *

><p>"Bunbun? Here Bunbun!" Abigail whisper shouts looking for the bunny in question. She wants to find him, but she also doesn't want to disturb Quinn and Mercedes's discussion.<p>

She hears little feet scurrying in the direction of a hallway and decides to tiptoe over to that area.

"Neither can I"

_Shit. That's Quinn's voice_. Abigail looks to her left to find a slightly ajar door and Bunbun flopping happily towards it. She reaches out for him and grabs him before he can bounce in. She really does not want to know what they are talking about right now.

"So who is Abigail?" Mercedes voice questions behind the door.

Abby stops all movement and goes numb.

"You know, Rachel has been asking me that all weekend. Abby is… I don't know how to explain her."

Movement. Abigail looks down to find Bunbun struggling a bit against her hands. She loosens her unconscious hold on him and the fuzzy animal cuddles into her chest chewing on her shirt.

"Well, what do you think of her?"

_Move. Damnit move!_ Abby thinks. It's odd how she thinks of the big toe scene in Kill Bill in this exact moment. Her desperation is hardly because of a life threatening situation, but maybe she can start moving by shear willpower regardless.

_Nope. Still stuck_.

_Why am I not moving?_

"I think she is great. She is sweet. A bit possessive, but I am the same way with people so I can't say much there. She genuinely cares about people and about me."

_Lalalala!_ Abigail thinks wanting to cover her ears. Why is she still here? She doesn't even want to listen to this! Yet here she is, metaphorically glued to this spot wanting to know what is going on. Why is she in the dark? Why isn't Quinn communicating with her like she used to?

"Then why don't you make things exclusive between the two of you?"

_That's enough! _ The redhead thinks and speed-walks away from the door with a happy Bunbun in her arms. She shouldn't have to listen at doors for the information she wants. That is a private conversation between Quinn and Mercedes. She is not welcome there.

"Woah there killer, where's the fire?" Blaine says laughing at her flustered movements.

Abigail runs a hand through her hair in thought before responding to Blaine. "Sorry. I just get flustered easily." She then takes the bottle that Blaine has prepared in her absence and begins feeding the bunny in her arms.

"No worries. When you have Kurt for a boyfriend you get used to it. It's actually pretty endearing." He says smiling at her as if she is some sort of ray of sunshine.

Well, she simply isn't.

At least she doesn't feel that way. After all, how could she? She has never once in her life had things go her way. Her life was never really hers to live. Lack of recognition for the hours she has spent working in the theater preparing shows and the times she had to work two jobs to care for her sick mother are just two examples. It is like everyone assumes she is okay with it and can put her life on hold for however long they need her. Something as simple as a thank you would have been nice, some kind of acknowledgement that she is not wasting her life away for other people. That she's not screwing up her chances at living. That compliance isn't the only thing she is destined for.

She just doesn't want to be screwing up.

She just wants her life to be in her own hands for once and not at the mercy of others.

Quinn makes her feel real though. Like she _hasn't_ wasted her time. Like she _isn't_ wasting her time. Like she's worth something.

Blaine snaps in her face pulling her out of her scattered thoughts while flashing an innocent smile.

"Where did you go in your head just now?"

_That's the million dollar question_.

"Oh you know, just out." She shrugs a shoulder at him and sets Bunbun down to roam around. "It happens on occasion. Quinn has never lost her patience with me yet, although that could be because she tunes out on me too when she plays her games. Or she used to anyway."

"What do you mean?" He asks walking with her to the couch, gesturing for her to sit down. He faces her sitting criss-cross as she pulls her knees to her chest facing the dark t.v.

"Well I haven't seen much of her recently. She's been getting distant. It's like she has gotten more serious all of the sudden and I don't quite know how to handle it. I do know that I want to be serious with her too. But it's like she won't let me. It's just a very confusing situation and I have no idea why I just told you that…" Abigail rambles trailing off at the end.

_It's like this guy has some kind of a super power to get me to talk. _Abigail thinks while giving him a side glance. _What is going on?_

Blaine shrugs. "Me either. But I'm glad you did. Maybe you just need to vent a bit aloud. I won't tell anyone if you want to continue."

"I don't." She says curtly.

They sit in silence as Blaine tries to read her and she tries to ignore everything.

"Courage." He says softly next to her drawing her attention.

"What?"

"Nothing." The man says sheepishly.

The silence continues for a few more minutes.

"She kissed me first." Abigail says so softly that she wouldn't be surprised if Blaine didn't hear her.

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"_Parties really aren't my style McMuffintop." Abigail says to her brother tipping back in her chair. She is taking her lunch break in the library eating a spare PB&J sandwich that Janet had offered her previously. Sunni is out sick and Quinn had to leave for something so Abigail opted to stay back and keep an eye on the kids until they leave. She invited her brother a while back to come and help entertain her._

"_You need to get out there and meet someone. You aren't responsible for mom anymore. You can be free and do whatever the hell you want. Go out and get laid or something."_

"_There are kids around Maurice!" She whisper yells slapping him on the shoulder. "You need to watch your mouth!"_

"_Alright. Alright. I'm just saying. Anyway Patrick said that he's going to a party down a couple blocks at Columbia. Go with him."_

"_No."_

"_Awwww come on baby sister! It'll be fun."_

"_No."_

"_But Patrick is a cool dude right?"_

"_We barely know him."_

"_He seems trustworthy to me…"_

"_No."_

"_But…"_

"_No."_

"_You owe me?"_

"_For what?"_

_Maurice pauses for a moment. "I bought you that sandwich."_

"_This is from Janet."_

"_Oh come on, will you just go?"_

"_No."_

"_Sis, I'm just trying to look out for you. Please just this once?" Maurice says kneeling on the ground in front of Abigail's chair. "Please?"_

"_Fine. If it will get you off my back for once then I will. But make sure Patty knows I'm going as his friend and nothing else. I'm only doing this for you. You have to promise me no more pestering for at least a month though."_

"_Yeah whatever. Just go. I already told him you would. It's tonight at 10. Don't get there early. It's not like an audition, you don't get there half an hour early."_

"_I realize this!" Abigail says smacking her brother again. "My social skills aren't that outdated."_

"_Could've fooled me." He mutters only to get hit harder. "Hey, this is teaching abuse!"_

"_Yeah yeah."_

_Later that night Abigail walks into the party with Patrick. The instant smell of alcohol and sweat pervades her nose making her face scrunch up in distaste. How people can meet their potential dates at a place like this she will never understand. She instantly spots a vacant seat on the couch and sits down propping her feet on the coffee table._

"_A drink m'lady" Patrick says to her smiling before downing 2 drinks. She sips on the offered drink hesitantly. _

"_Thanks."_

_As the night wears on Patrick becomes more and more wasted. She has had a few cups of whatever alcohol they are giving out and is sufficiently buzzed. Patrick tries to make a multitude of moves on her but she avoids each fairly easily claiming to need to use the restroom or go out on the floor for a dance break. After deciding that scaring Patrick with a Jenna Marbles trick would probably not work due to his dense thought processes, Abagail decides to go on her sixth "pee break". It is during this that Patrick grabs onto her wrist._

"_Uhhh…?"_

"_Let's go upstairs."_

"_No thank you." Abigail says trying to tear her wrist out of his hand. His hands are too strong though so it's a futile effort._

"_Come on babe. You've been flirting all night. I just want to… you know."_

_Abigail raises her eyebrow at him. If saying the phrase 'I have to go pee' turns his crank then she is worried for his future wife. "No. I do not know. Because I do not want to…"_

_Patrick pulls her into his gigantic hold before she can finish her sentence and grabs onto her ass._

"_Dude, get off of me!" She says a little louder and pushes against the brick wall of a man._

"_Come on…"_

"_She doesn't want you." A stern voice says behind her. Patrick is so shocked that he is being talked to by someone else at the party that he lets go. Abigail instantly moves toward the voice._

"_How do you know? Who are you?"_

"_None of your damn business. Now let me speak to my friend here and I'll bring her right back." The voice beside her says. _

_Abigail looks up to find a woman that can only be described as angelic. The angel then guides her out of the room and away from the disgruntled man on the couch behind them. They end up on a porch outside in the rear of the house._

"_I don't know you."_

_The angel smiles. "That's right."_

"_You lied to Patrick."_

"_You're very observant. I wonder what you're like sober…" The angel says smiling wider._

"_I'm Abigail."_

"_Well Abs, you can call me Q."_

_The redhead just nods still staring. There is a silence as they both stare. Q turning to stare at the stars, Abigail at Q._

"_I think I like girls."_

_Abigail nods again at the angel. "Me too." _

_She has never affirmed it. Never voiced this thought that has been plaguing her since she fell for her best friend in high school. But now all of this sudden this Q girl just brings it out of her._

"_I think I need some air." The angel says._

"_We are already outside."_

"_I can't with the star looking at me. I can't. I'm in love with a star."_

"_You're drunk."_

"_So are you."_

_It is then that Abigail notices just how drunk she is. She recalls needing help walking out here and even thinking of walking away from the railing on the porch makes her dizzy. _

_Q's hands are in her hair now. How and when they got there is a mystery to her. It's probably a mystery to Q too._

"_We shouldn't."_

"_I know." The angel says and kisses her softly as fireworks spread through her body from her lips outward._

"Want to talk about it?" Blaine asks after another moment of silence.

"No." Abigail says softly placing her forehead on her knees. "No I don't."

After a short silence she slowly stands and walks to the door. "Tell her... I don't know. Just tell her to text me when she's ready to talk." And with that she leaves the apartment softly closing the door behind her.


End file.
